Let the army sort out your ex, officer tells female Russians

A RUSSIAN colonel has asked women to send in their ex-boyfriends’ details so they can be “sorted out”, in a video to mark International Women’s Day.

Yuri Khromov, colonel of a military commissariat in north-western Russia, posted a video on the official Instagram account of the Leningrad region, in which he urged Russian women to share the social media usernames of their exes so that the men could be sent to the army.

Using March 8 as a hook for the recruitment drive, he packaged his statement as “a gift for women”, suggesting that their ex-boyfriends would “be taken care of ”.

“Let me give you a little gift. Write the accounts of your exes, and we will meet them at recruiting points. And remember – a real man must have a military ID,” said Col Khromov.

He emphasised that Russian women should be surrounded by “real defenders, not only protecting the Motherland but you [as women] as well”.

In Russia, the widespread problem of domestic violence has soared during the pandemic, activists say. A fifth of all women have been physically abused by a partner in the country.

Yesterday Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, stressed the importance of women’s roles in preserving traditional family values in Russia.

“These long-standing traditions assert the role of women in our life, by preserving the genuine values that have

‘Let me give you a little gift. Write the accounts of your exes, and we will meet them at recruiting points’

always been and will remain an inspiring moral guideline,” Mr Putin said in a statement. He also praised female medical workers because of their “healing spiritual support”.

“I thank all women doctors, paramedics, nurses and nannies – everyone who rescues and takes care of patients in the ‘red zones’ as part of ambulance crews, in hospitals and clinics. It has long been known that sensitivity, empathy, and an attentive, kind attitude are sometimes as much needed as medicine,” Mr Putin said.