Russian teenagers taking part in a shooting competition have been encouraged to fire at a photo of US Army Major General Robert H. Scales who was referred to as “an enemy of the people”.
According to local media, the incident took place during an air rifle shooting contest in the Ural Mountains, which run north to south through western Russia, near the country’s fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg.
Russia launched a criminal case against Robert Scales in 2015 after the now-retired US Army major general said during a Fox News interview that America needed to “start killing Russians” to affect the Ukrainian crisis.
At the time, he said: “The only way the United States can have any effect in this region and turn the tide is to start killing Russians.
“So many Russians that even Putin’s media can’t hide the fact that Russians are returning to the motherland in body bags.”
Russia’s Investigative Committee described Scales’ words as a call to “carry out military operations on the Ukrainian territory and kill Russian citizens and Russian-speaking people”.
The shooting contest was organised by a local charity called ‘Assistance for Street Children’.
Charity head Bek Manasov told local media that Scales was chosen as a target because “he is our enemy and we are promoting patriotic education”.
About 100 children aged between 13 and 18 took part in the shooting competition.
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Story By: Sergey Panashchuk, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
