A Russian governor has been accused of picking his nose and wiping his nasal mucus on a forestry department chief, and a video of him appearing to rub the booger on her coat sleeve has sparked fury.
Alexander Osipov, governor of the Russian Transbaikal region, was talking to Elena Shalyapina, head of the Karymsky forestry department about forest fires when he put his thumb to his nose and then wiped his hand on her coat.
A video of the interaction was posted by NEXTA Live, a Belarus-based news outlet. Osipov told the outlet that the allegations are false, and said: “It is not always possible to simultaneously put out a fire, scratch your nose and clarify according to the report. The main thing is that this whole story does not upset Elena Shalyapina.”
A model demonstrates the appropriate way to dispose of nasal mucus. A Russian governor has come under fire on social media after he was accused of wiping a booger on the sleeve of a forestry department official.
Ben Birchall/Associated Press
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment via email. Shalyapina’s contact details were not traceable to request comment.
After it was posted on Telegram October 10, the video went viral and gained 222,800 views and many people posted comments criticizing Osipov below the video.
The following unverifiable comments, included as an illustration of outraged reactions, were translated via Google Translate.
One person, Kirill, wrote, “governors’ attitude to Russians.”
Another Telegram user, Sergey, wrote, “Give him a punch in the nose.”
A user by the name of Timeout wrote, “Our best people become governors- hooligans, boors, maniacs.”
Oksana, another Telegram user, wrote, “Sick to the point of vomiting.”
Marion Lamer wrote on Telegram, “I don’t give a damn about you! He wanted to say.”
The post gained 157 comments in all, and some were disparaging of Shalyapina.
Many have also taken to X, formerly known as Twitter, to comment on the alleged booger incident.
One user, Chaos in Russland, wrote, “The #Governor of #Transbaikalia, Alexander Osipov, wiped his booger on the head of the forestry department. At this time, she reported to him about major #fires in the region. Only in #Russia…”
Another user, Charlie, wrote, “Eww! The governor of Russia’s Transbaikalia wiped his snot on the head of the region’s forestry department It is not specified why the governor of the Zabaikalsky Krai, Aleksandr Osipov, did this to the head of the Karymsky forestry department, Elena Shalyapina.”
Russia was battling several forest fires in the region of Rostov in September.
Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about this article? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.
