'I will beat you': Seven-year-old blasts 'WEAK' Arshavin after ex-Russia star accuses Olympic champ of forcing child into videos

A bizarre row has broken out between Evgeni Plushenko's son and Andrey Arshavin after the Russia legend accused the figure-skating champion and his wife of forcing the infant to perform in a series of "painful" Instagram videos.

Two-time Olympic champion Plushenko and his wife, producer and TV personality Yana Rudkovskaya, have been prolific makers of videos with their son, Alexander, in the family’s opulent home.

While Russia has been in lockdown under health guidelines aimed at stopping the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak, the seven-year-old known as Sasha has joined his parents indoors to test gym equipment, perform costumed dance routines and recreate scenes from films including Titanic.

Arshavin described Rudkovskaya as “a good dancer” but was less convinced by Sasha’s part in the procession of social media sequences, telling former Zenit teammate Alexander Kerzhakov that the boy’s face suggested he was acting “under duress” and being “forced to do everythingю”

Rudkovskaya, who reacted furiously to remarks that she alleged had claimed her son was mentally ill last week, hit back at Arshavin by creating another video that began with a clip of the former Russian Footballer of the Year sharing his views with Kerzhakov.

She then knelt opposite the young Plushenko in front of a mirror to perform a routine that involved the pair waving toys at each other and blowing kisses to the camera while wearing matching black and white pyjamas with illustrations of cats on them.

“This video and dancing is just for you,” she told Arshavin, tagging him and Kerzhakov in the film. “I always wonder why people care more about other people’s children than their own. I completely forgot, maybe the football players always smile.”

Despite his tender years, Sasha already has his own Instagram with more than 356,000 followers, run by his mother and describing him as a figure skater at his father’s Angels of Plushenko ice skating school.

In a video on the channel, Sasha asked: “Why do you say bad things about me? I am not forced or under duress. Why do you say that I should always smile? What am I, a fool of some kind?”

He then mimicked the moves he planned to make against Arshavin on the pitch while explaining: “You’re weak. In order to beat you, I only have one tackle to make. I will slide tackle you, take the ball from you and score.”

It is unclear whether he wrote the accompanying text, in which he told Arshavin: "It’s impossible to control TVs in the whole house, as well as the words of adult male athletes regarding other people's children.

“Notice those who are interested in others much more than their own. We get what we all deserve. You are not only an athlete, but also the idol of millions of boys in the world.”

Arshavin has faced criticism in the past for allegedly failing to communicate with his three children from his marriage to ex-wife Julia Baranovskaya. He also had a daughter with second wife Alisia in 2017.

Writing to his own following of more than 558,000, Plushenko warned: “I will bring this matter to the end. To punish the guilty liars is not even a question of principle – it is a matter of life. The life of our son.”

Kerzhakov responded with applause emojis, leaving readers unsure whether Plushenko had been angered by his chat with Arshavin or was referring to a post by his wife the previous day.

On Monday, Rudkovskaya angrily accused a publisher of plunging “a knife in the back” by suggesting that her son suffered from “illness and abnormality.”

“My family and I were faced with amazing human dishonesty and vileness from people whom I considered my friends who came to visit us and to our events,” she wrote, threatening legal action in Russian courts and at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

“Sasha is diligent, athletic, kind, friendly and absolutely healthy. Now you will answer according to the law. Your slander and lawlessness must and will be punished.

“[Alexander] has had a page on Instagram from six months old where everyone can see his development. You should be very, very ashamed.”