Blogger Artemy Lebedev's words about Beslan spark anger in North Ossetia

Artemy Lebedev's obscene statement about the activities of the organizations helping victims of the terror act in Beslan has caused outrage in the republic. Public organizations called for the designer to be stripped of his state awards and demanded an apology. The "Beslan Mothers" have announced a lawsuit.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 3, 2018, Lebedev stated in his blog that organizations such as "Beslan Mothers" and "Voice of Beslan" were speculating on the tragedy for the sake of "political pies." This statement outraged YouTube users. The death of children during the terror act in Beslan is as tragic as the death of a child in a traffic accident, he explained, calling for "burying the children and live on."

In his recent interview with the journalist Yuri Dud*, Artemy Lebedev, a designer, said that "now he would say the same thing" about the "Beslan Mothers" and "Voice of Beslan" Committees.

"Political pies" are when events in the past, even very tragic ones, are taken as a basis. And they start running around with them as if these events are still relevant," Artemy Lebedev has stated in his interview on the Dud*'s YouTube channel.

According to Lebedev, it is strange that in connection with one event there are two organizations that organize actions and collect donations.

The international public movement "Ossetians' Supreme Council" has appealed to the Russian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) and the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) with a demand to deprive Artemy Lebedev of state awards and bring him to justice, the TASS has reported.

"This blogger should apologize to the people of Ossetia," the Council's Telegram channel has stated.

In his Telegram channel, Sergey Menyailo, the head of North Ossetia, has called to "tear off heads" for mocking the memory of the children who perished in Beslan.

The "Beslan Mothers" Committee intends to sue Lebedev. "He allows himself to speak so dirty and boorishly about us only because he treats us as weak and having no support of either people or authorities ... The reaction to this person's statements was unexpectedly unanimous," the Committee has stated as quoted by the "Sapa Media" outlet.

*On 15 April, 2022, Yuri Dud was designated by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) as a "foreign agent". However, he left his country to continue working from Istanbul.