Police in Russia’s Krasnodar region have detained three people after a video that appeared to show them filming themselves against the backdrop of a burning oil depot in Sochi was posted online, Russian independent news outlet Meduza reported on Sunday.
The fire at the oil depot broke out in the early hours of Sunday following a reported Ukrainian drone strike.
According to a statement by the regional branch of the Russian Interior Ministry, the video prompted an official investigation. The footage was widely shared online, including by Yekaterina Mizulina, head of the government-aligned Safe Internet League.
Initially, police said they were working to establish the identities of the two young women featured in the video and would assess the legality of their actions. A man who can be seen walking behind them in the footage was not mentioned in early police reports.
However, a few hours later, the Interior Ministry confirmed that all three individuals had been detained, adding that all three were aged between 19 and 21, and were residents of the industrial city of Nizhny Tagil in Russia’s Sverdlovsk region who had travelled to Sochi.
The 20-year-old woman who was filming the video is now facing administrative charges for violating public safety rules during an emergency. If found guilty, she could be fined up to 30,000 rubles (€300).
The oil depot, which is operated by Russian state-owned energy giant Rosneft, caught fire after being struck by a Ukrainian drone in the early hours of Sunday. The regional authorities announced that the blaze had been fully extinguished by late afternoon on Sunday, however.