Art stunt by ‘Russian Banksy’ puts police on alert

An art experiment in an industrial zone in Moscow has caused panic among the city’s police force.

­Last night a report came in of a suspicious object underneath a railway bridge. The area was cordoned off and a bomb disposal team was called in.

Instead of a bomb, however, they found a model of a space invader from the popular 80s arcade video game.

The person behind the project is Russian street artist P183, dubbed the “Russian Banksy” for his bold and provocative art stunts across Moscow. He went on to explain that the project was called “a traffic jam fighter.”

The robot was imitating the game by shooting passing cars with a red light laser. No harm was caused to the cars or their drivers.

“I’m shocked at the police reaction,” the artist told RT. “Who could have possibly mistaken a two-meter-wide space invader for a bomb? What astonished me the most is that when media reported this, they had a picture of actual grenade next to the text. You’ve seen the reaction of the people in the video recorded – it made them laugh! No one was suspicious about this!”

Watch RT’s interview with the elusive artist.