In Gorky Park in Moscow, former paratroopers celebrating the Day of the Airborne Forces staged a fight with the soldiers of the Russian Guard, TASS and REN TV report.

According to REN TV , two former paratroopers first had a fight. The police intervened and tried to detain one of the participants in the fight, but other former paratroopers stood up for him, “some of them were drunk and behaved aggressively.” The participants in the fight are questioned.

TASS, in turn, citing sources in law enforcement agencies, reports that riot policemen, part of the Russian Guard, participated in the clash with the former paratroopers.

“A conscript soldier of the Russian Guard was injured, there are no casualties among the riot police,” the agency’s interlocutor said, adding that several participants in the fight were detained.

Valery Yuryev, chairman of the central board of the All-Russian Union of Veterans of the Airborne Troops of the Union of Russian Paratroopers,  told the radio station “Moscow Says” that the conflict could have been provoked by officers of the Russian Guard. “The Airborne Forces is not a joke. If Rosgvardia touched our guys, especially those who used them, this clash could have occurred, “Yuryev said.

He added that he regrets that Rospotrebnadzor forbade the Union of paratroopers to hold an organized celebration of the Airborne Forces Day. “The element cannot be pacified, it must be led,” said Yuryev.

The Rosgvardia, in turn, told RIA Novosti that a violation of public order had been suppressed in Gorky Park, adding that the identity of the instigators was being established.

(c)MEDUZA 2020