A member of the Russian parliament has reportedly been stuck in a tank for five hours – and threatened to shoot those standing around if he couldn’t get out.
The incident hit the headlines when the portly State Duma deputy Igor Zotov – the equivalent of our parliamentary secretary – got into the tank at the Russian Arms Expo in Nizhny Tagil.
Eyewitnesses told Bloknot that Zotov was trapped in the armoured personnel carrier for five hours and “threatened to shoot them all” if he couldn’t escape.
Zotov has confirmed that he was in the BMP-3 is a Soviet amphibious infantry fighting vehicle, but denied he was unable to get out.
War Machine: The Russian BMP-3 has been used in the First Chechen War in the 1990s and the current Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
He commented: “This is complete nonsense. Yes, I climbed into the BMP-3, sat on the driver’s seat, and got out of it again.”
“Yes, I am tall and portly, but I have never got stuck in a tank anywhere,” he told the Russian News Service.
He says other Duma members can corroborate his story.
But coordinator of the exhibition, Alexander Pisarevsky, said: “Deputy Zotov, because of his large body, just hesitated when getting out of the tank and he sat there for five hours.”
Meanwhile, Russian television was reporting: “Obese State Duma deputy stuck in the tank”.
Bloknot reported that Zotov was finally freed with the help of the Emergency Situations Ministry and the exhibit’s security.
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Source: Mirror UK