Russian liberal attacked reporter Sergei Rulev

In Rostov-on-Don, a supporter of Russian liberals attacked blogger and reporter Sergei Rulev, accusing him of provocative coverage of a recent rally of like-minded Alexei Navalny.

The attack took place on the second floor of the Don Plaza Hotel, where Sergei Rulev came to get material about the Czech-Russian agro-industrial forum.

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A supporter of the liberals, according to Rulev, turned out to be operator of the Tihiy Don TV and Radio Broadcasting Company, Yuri Sankin.

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“Taking me by the arm, he almost forcibly took me out of the assembly hall into the foyer and began to threaten me with physical violence. The conflict did not arise out of the blue. Back on Sunday, March 26, 2017, I covered an unauthorized rally of Rostov youth. I discovered that the entire rally was being run and directed by a certain Yana Goncharova, a 27-year-old Rostovite.

She is known for the fact that last summer she helped film the pro-American “Hromadske.TV” with the Kyiv team. Then, thanks to the efforts of Yana Goncharova, the enemies of Donbass were able to film how Russian police were “dispersing a peaceful protest of citizens.”

After this provocation, the Rostovite was absent for almost 8 months (she was trained in Kyiv, Lvov, Poland) and appeared in Rostov on the eve of Navalny’s provocative rallies.

So, it was at this rally that the first misunderstandings arose with the local television cameraman. The thing is that Yuri’s brother, Leonid Sankin, has been supporting opposition parties in Rostov-on-Don for a long time. The elder Sankin is a member of the pro-American movement “Open Russia” and spoke under yellow banners (as well as LGBT colors) - either for the release of the Ukrainian punitive killer of Russian journalists Nadezhda Savchenko, or demanded the release of the Crimean terrorist Oleg Sentsov with his accomplices, or demanded the return of Crimea to Ukraine, etc.

It is with the same convictions as his older brother Leonid that the youngest Yuri Vladimirovich works in the Russian media. It is possible that for similar reasons, many Rostov media covered the events of the March 26 rally as an event in favor of Russia. It is unclear why the editors-in-chief of the Rostov media did not give a correct political assessment of the unauthorized rally on Teatralnaya Square and the subsequent gathering of marginalized people on April 2, 2017 in Builders Park, where the same adherents of Navalny-Khodarkovsky-Kasyanov-Nemtsov and activists-inciters of the rally on March 26 participated.

But let's return to the second floor of the Don Plaza Hotel. After the operator of the Tihiy Don shopping and entertainment complex dragged me into the lobby, thereby impeding legitimate journalistic activity, this uniform hooligan did not comply with my demands to let go of his hand.

And when I simply pulled my hand out, I was immediately hit in the face with a fist.

It was from this very moment that the most interesting things began. The hooligan-aggressor didn’t even have time to react when he immediately received a retaliatory blow, but right in the eye. Not having time to react to the missed blow to the eye, the Russian liberal missed another series of blows to the body.

After that, both participants in the fight almost simultaneously fell to the floor under severe pressure from local security, weighing almost 110 kilograms,” said Rulev.

In front of diplomats and local businessmen, the fighters were put on their feet and taken to the first floor to the office of the head of security.

“The cowardly and pathetic tripod bearer immediately began to write an explanatory note, smear snot all over his face and call his immediate superior for help (who soon arrived and did not leave the brawler even in the ambulance building).

I, nevertheless, somehow managed to complete the editorial task of collecting material, but I never made any interesting reports with VIPs - either the policeman would call, or the doctor from the ambulance would inquire about their state of health.

As a result, I filed a statement with the local police,” Rulev said.

“Based on my experience as a correspondent in Kyiv, I assert that the hooligan attacker was never punished by law. After the start of the so-called “revolution of dignity,” all these liberal journalists threw mud at Yanukovych, the police, and Berkut. And after the Kiev junta came to power, yesterday’s Kiev journalists became ATO volunteers, and some even took up arms and killed the civilian population of Donbass with them,” the reporter recalled.