Popular Influencer Who filmed herself, tickling breast of Russian Statue Arrested

A Russian influencer identified as Alena Agafonova have been reportedly arrested after she filmed herself, posed under the 279ft statue of a woman brandishing a sword. 

She had filmed herself tickling the breast of a famous Russian war statue has made a grovelling public apology.

The 23 year old had posed under the 279ft statue of a woman brandishing a sword called The Motherland Calls in Volgograd, previously Stalingrad, scene of one the WW2’s most epic battles.

She now faces five years in jail for the Instagram video in Putin’s hardline Russia.

The video shows her appearing to ‘tickle’ the figure’s right breast in footage she posted on Instagram, officially banned in Russia.

She was put on Russia’s wanted list and was held this week as she arrived back in her homeland.

The video shows Alena Agafonova appearing to ‘tickle’ the figure’s right breast in footage she posted on Instagram, officially banned in Russia

Agafonova was immediately transported from Moscow to Volgograd and is now being detained for two months pending further investigations.

She issued a humbling apology for her act, but still faces criminal prosecution in Volgograd and a sentence of up to five years.

She is accused of ‘desecration of a burial site’ and ‘cynical actions that disregard the norms of morality’ as well as the ‘rehabilitation of Nazism’.

Her hounding shows the new morality in Russia under Putin amid the war with Ukraine.

Agafonova issued a humbling apology for her act, but still faces criminal prosecution in Volgograd and a sentence of up to five years

She went into hiding in Sri Lanka after the film was made last year.

The authorities are cracking down on any behaviour seen as anti-patriotic or in defiance of ‘traditional values’.

Footage showed Agafonova handcuffed as a law enforcement officer told her: ‘I am informing you that the investigative department for the Central district of Volgograd has a criminal case against you for the desecration of a symbol of military glory of Russia, insult to the memory of defenders of the fatherland, committed with the use of the internet…’

She appeared to have been ordered to make a public apology, an increasing trend in Putin’s repressive state with those who flout the ever-stricter laws.

‘I address all residents of Russia and Volgograd and ask everyone not to commit the acts I did last year because of my stupidity,’ she said.

‘I didn’t even think that I could insult someone’s feelings.

‘I ask all Russian citizens for forgiveness.’