‘No one’s going to war’: Russian recruiter shot
THIS is the moment an antiwar protester allegedly walked into a Russian recruitment office and opened fire, declaring: “No one will go fighting. We will all go home now.”
Footage of the shocking incident showed four gunshots before a man identified as 25year-old Ruslan Zinin was arrested for shooting military recruiter Aleksandr Yeliseyev.
A dozen men screamed as they fled the conscription office in the city of Ust-Ilimsk, in the Irkutsk region of Siberia.
Conflicting Ukraine and Russian media reports said the officer either died after the shooting or was fighting for his life in intensive care.
Irkutsk regional governor Igor Kobzev said on Telegram that Mr Zinin would “absolutely be punished”.
Mr Zinin was said to be upset after his best friend, who had no combat experience, was called up for the war.
He allegedly opened fire after the recruitment officer gave a “clumsy” pep talk about the fight in Ukraine.
The shocking incident came as the head of the UN atomic energy watchdog said on Monday he was ready to continue talks in Ukraine and Russia this week to set up a security zone around a key nuclear power plant.
Fighting around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – Europe’s largest – has raised fears of a nuclear disaster. But Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, met the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last week to discuss setting up a security zone around the plant to protect it.
“This is possible. This must be done. And I’m ready to continue these consultations in both countries this week so that we can protect this plant,” he said in his opening statement at the agency’s annual general conference.
“The work there will allow us to stabilise a situation that is simply unacceptable.
“This war must stop. But before that happens … we must do everything in our power to prevent a nuclear accident that would add tragedy to the suffering,” Mr Grossi added.
The IAEA and Western powers voiced alarm last week over the safety of the Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant, as Kyiv accused Russia of new shelling in the area.
Europe’s largest atomic facility was seized by Russian troops back in March, and shelling around it has spurred calls from Kyiv and its Western allies to demilitarise areas around all the nuclear plants in Ukraine.