An 18-year-old TikTok blogger has been arrested after attacking a Federal Security Service (FSB) car during protests on January 23. Konstantin Lakeev, known as kievskyyy, has over 800,000 subscribers on the video-sharing platform.
According to OVD-Info, a monitoring firm that has received Western funding in the past, citing a friend of the blogger, Lakeev was detained on the evening of January 26. A post on his Instagram account, allegedly written by his mother, explained that his house had been raided by around 20 riot police.
A video was later published showing officers entering the building, which he shares with other TikTok stars. According to media reports, several other housemates were detained with him.Lakeev is accused of being part of the group of Moscow demonstrators who destroyed a government-owned Toyota Camry, first by throwing snowballs and then by kicking it and jumping on its hood. According to the Investigative Committee, the driver was injured and sprayed with tear gas, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he "lost his eye." However, citing an anonymous source, news outlet Baza contradicted Peskov's claim.
Also on rt.com Nine-year-old boy detained at Navalny protest, officials say, as Russian parliament holds probe into presence of kids at ralliesIn a video published by the Investigative Committee, which didn't name the TikTok star but simply described him as "a young man born in 2002," he can be seen confessing to the violence.
"I am very sorry and apologetic. I ask forgiveness from everyone affected by this: civil servants, police officers," he said. "It is more than 100 percent that this will not happen again."
According to Moscow's TASS news agency, citing a source, Lakeev could be taken to court and remanded in custody.
On TikTok, Lakeev has more than 800,000 subscribers and 11 million likes. He regularly gets tens of thousands of views per clip.
There were large protests in support of jailed opposition figure Alexey Navalny throughout the country on Saturday, with thousands of his supporters taking to the streets to show their support. Navalny was remanded in custody on January 18, immediately after landing on Russian soil. The activist is accused of violating the terms of a three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence he received in 2014, after being found guilty of embezzling 30 million rubles ($400,000) from two companies, including the French cosmetics brand Yves Rocher.
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