Local and government officials abusing their power to block roads is nothing new in Russia, but the exposure of one incident that involved a dying patient in an ambulance has caused uproar in the country.
News agencies in Russia reported that a convoy of the current speaker of the Russian State Duma, Sergei Naryshkin, had police block the way of an ambulance carrying a patient in serious condition, who died before he made it to the hospital, in the town of Vsevolozhsk on Monday.
A spokesperson for the Duma denied all the allegations. “The information about the tragic incident is not confirmed. The situation looks like inaccurate information released to attract tabloid readers,” Duma spokesman Yury Shuvalov said on Wednesday, according to Russian news site RiaNovosti
However, a five-minute long video shot from a dashboard mounted camera in an unrelated passenger car says otherwise forcing police to begin an investigating.
At around 35 seconds into the clip, we see a police officer blocking the road as he waits for Naryshkin’s motorcade. The ambulance’s sirens can be heard at around 1:55, while at 2:37, the medics begin yelling to the officer who didn’t even bother to answer.
The patient in the ambulance reportedly died just before the vehicle arrived outside the hospital.
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