Moscow 'secret police grads’ stage luxury car parade, prompt storm of criticism (VIDEO)
A video showing a group of youngsters thought to be fresh graduates of Moscow’s FSB secret police academy out for a joyride in Moscow while packed into 30 Mercedes luxury SUVs worth at least $100,000 has raised more than a few eyebrows.
The FSB newbies cruising the streets of the Russian capital in black four-wheel drive G-Wagens blocked traffic in their lane several times, while honking their horns for no reason. To help a cameraman take some great shots, they formed a long line from time to time, making it difficult for other vehicles to pass by safely. Meanwhile, young men in white shirts keep protruding from the car windows, joyfully shouting and waving to each other while taking pictures and videos on their cell phones.
The footage of the parade was later posted on the internet by its participants, as well as several witnesses.
The ostentatious show raised a lot of questions on social media platforms, where users voiced outrage, wondering where the 22-year-old lieutenants, who are supposed to, among other things, focus on fighting corruption, actually got the money to pay for such pricey vehicles.
"For four years they were taught conspiracy, corporate ethics, and that one must not disclose secrets,” retired FSB Major General Aleksander Mikhailov told Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP) daily.
“Those [riding in these cars] were not intelligence or counter-intelligence agents, but merchants of the first guild,” he pointed out. “So pompous and arrogant. If that’s how they start their careers, they won’t do any good,” he noted, adding that all of the joyriders should be reprimanded and FSB Academy officials punished.
Mikhailov said the fact that the young people uploaded the video of their ride on the internet with their faces clearly visible speaks for itself.
“It’s treason with a capital T. Betrayal of the interests of the [intelligence] agency in full. No one knows yet where those guys will be serving. So, how can you download photographs of the already acting FSB agents on the internet?” he told REN TV broadcaster.
Another group of “golden boys” came under fire in Moscow in May, when 20-year-old Ruslan Shamsuarov, dubbed “petrol boy” by the Russian media, cruised the streets of downtown in his Gelandewagen along with a group of friends. When traffic police demanded that they pull over, as they had been going way over the speed limit, the youngsters refused to stop and, on the contrary, sped up, provoking some six police squads to chase them through the city. Footage of the chase, which they broadcast live on Periscope, went viral on Russian social media.
