Female influencers who posted 'lesbian' kiss online are hunted down by Russian police and forced to make grovelling apology under Putin's extreme anti-gay laws
- Vlada Alchaeva, 24, and her friend Vika, 19, will also face hefty fines
Two Russian influencers have been forced to make abject public apologies over a lesbian kiss posted online.
Vlada Alchaeva, 24, and her friend Vika, 19, were hunted down by police and will also face hefty fines for flouting laws banning LGBT 'propaganda'.
The pair were told by police that they could 'harm the psyche' of minors who viewed their video under draconian new laws.
The new laws from the Putin regime come despite scandalous 'lesbian' band t.A.T.u which thrived in the dictator's early years in power.
Singers Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina were even invited by Putin to perform at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Vlada Alchaeva, 24, and her friend Vika, 19, in a kiss that was posted online. They were hunted down by police and will also face hefty fines for flouting laws banning LGBT 'propaganda'
Vlada and Vika filmed their social media video in a pizzeria in Krasnodar, a region close to the war zone where Putin has an official residence and a private palace
Vlada and Vika being taken away by police. The pair were told by police that they could 'harm the psyche' of minors who viewed their video under draconian new laws
Vlada and Vika filmed their social media video in a pizzeria in Krasnodar, a region close to the war zone where Putin has an official residence and a private palace.
'It was all as a joke, just for a bit of a laugh,' said Vlada who posted the kiss on Instagram, banned in Russia, where she has 165,000 followers along with 440,000 on TikTok.
At a police interrogation, an officer asked: 'Did you understand that your video could be watched by minors and that the French kiss that you performed might have harmed their psyche?'
Vika replied: 'I was not thinking that it could have influenced anyone.
'I did not think about it. I did not know.'
She was asked: 'So you often kiss women in real life?'
She replied: 'No, no, no! It was just a joke. I'm very remorseful, I'm very sorry.
'I only now starting to realise what we have done. And I understand that we should not have done it.'
Vlada Alchaev (left) and Vika (right). At a police interrogation, an officer asked: 'Did you understand that your video could be watched by minors and that the French kiss that you performed might have harmed their psyche?' Vika replied: 'I was not thinking that it could have influenced anyone'
Lena Katina (left) and Yulia Volkova in the band t.A.T.u. The scandalous band thrived in Putin's early years in power
Vlada also offered a humbling apology for transgressing the new norms in Russia.
She said: 'We started filming when we were kissing and I'm proposing to her which we are very sorry about and won't do it again.'
In the video, Vlada proposes and then they kiss passionately.
She later told a journalist: 'I would never trade [male genitals] for [female genitals], I love men.
'I do not support any prohibited movements.
'For some reason, people thought [the proposal in the video] was real.
'She [Vika] and I are friends.
'But I have always had relationships with men. The goal was to get attention.'
Vlada faces a fine of up to £1,750 and Vika up to £875.
