Russia feels the Ukraine war: politicians vacation with cocktails and shrimp - and reaps concentrated anger

Created: 01/08/2023 12:49 p.m

By: Florian Naumann

The Russian politician Maxim Wassiljew is vacationing in Mexico - to the displeasure of the Kursk governor Roman Starowoit (middle; montage).

© Screenshot: Twitter/Donat Sorokin/TASS/fn

The Russian region of Kursk suffers from the Ukraine war.

A member of parliament has apparently underestimated the anger of the people: his vacation is becoming a political issue.

Kursk – The Ukraine war seems to be getting more and more painful in the minds of Russians: a regional politician vacationing in sunny Mexico with cocktails and delicacies has now reaped a storm of indignation.

Given the massive problems in Russia's war of aggression, the appearance of decadence no longer seems appropriate.

Even from the top of Putin's United Russia party there was a rebuke.

The politician himself does not belong to the party – but his wife does.

Ukraine war: Member of Parliament wishes “a lot of money and a good mood” from the beach bar

The stumbling block: Maxim Wassiljew, member of the Kursk state parliament, had posed in a video.

He wished "a lot of money and a good mood" from a beach bar.

He also treated himself to an apparently alcoholic cocktail and shrimp.

The Kursk region borders Ukraine and is increasingly feeling the effects of the war.

Thousands of people from Kursk are at the front, and the deaths of around 100 people from the area have already been officially confirmed.

Places close to the border regularly come under fire, and in December the Kursk airfield was hit by a drone.

"Like thousands of my compatriots, I am indignant at the video greeting sent from Mexico by the Kursk parliamentarian Maxim Vasilyev," Kursk governor Roman Starovoit wrote on his Telegram channel.

He called the politician's luxury vacation in times of war "unethical".

According to Volodymyr Zelenskyi's former spokeswoman, Iulija Mendel, Starovoit himself had recently taken part in a military training session with the Wagner group, which had a high impact on the public.

"I wonder if he'll go to war..." she scoffed in a tweet.

Putin's party rages about politicians' vacation in the Ukraine war: "Don't know what made them do it"

Meanwhile, demands for Vasilyev's resignation have also been raised.

"I don't know what prompted the Vasilyevs to make such a decision," wrote Andrei Turchak, general secretary of the Kremlin party United Russia.

"But I hope that the ranks of Kursk deputies will thin out after the New Year holidays."

Wassiljew, who sat for the communists in the state parliament for a long time, is non-party.

His wife, on the other hand, belongs to the “United Russia” faction.

Vasilyev has shown himself to be an active supporter of the war against Ukraine in the past.

He called the fuss about his New Year's greeting exaggerated – and showed himself to be the victim of a prank.

He only sent the greeting to friends, but a former acquaintance from western Ukraine "whom I was friends with before the special military operation" spread the video online, the deputy said.

It is questionable whether this will calm the people of Kursk: moving images of an explosion in the region were circulating on social networks on Sunday.

At least in the occupied regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, Ukraine appeared to be increasingly attacking energy infrastructure.

This may also apply to Kursk.

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