Afghan toddler fleeing Iran brutally attacked at Moscow Airport
Belarusian man charged with attempted murder
Moscow: A Belarusian national has been charged with attempted murder after a horrifying assault on an 18-month-old Afghan boy at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow. The toddler, who had fled conflict in Iran with his pregnant mother, was violently slammed to the ground by the accused in a shocking attack caught on CCTV.
The suspect, identified as Vladimir Vitkov, 31, is a nuclear construction worker who was recently dismissed from a project in Egypt. Russian investigators say he was under the influence of alcohol and cannabis at the time of the incident. During police interrogation, Vitkov confessed, saying: “I attempted to murder a child... I was under the influence of drugs.”
Footage from the airport shows Vitkov picking up the boy and throwing him headfirst onto the hard floor. The child, identified as Yazdan, suffered severe skull fractures, spinal injuries, and internal bleeding. He was placed in a medically induced coma at the Roshal Children's Centre in Moscow, but doctors have now confirmed that he is in stable condition and does not require neurosurgical treatment.
The assault occurred just minutes after Yazdan and his mother, Sahar Hajizada, arrived in Moscow while fleeing Israeli airstrikes in Iran. According to Iranian officials, the child was initially believed to be Iranian, but Russian authorities later confirmed he holds Afghan nationality.
The Iranian Ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, condemned the incident as “completely inhuman” and said Iran had contacted Russian officials for an immediate investigation.
Russian children's rights ombudswoman Ksenia Mishonova called Vitkov a “drug-addled monster” and demanded the harshest punishment. “This is incredibly hard to bear. I hope this monster receives the full weight of the law. May the child recover, and the family find strength,” she said.
Sheremetyevo, Russia’s busiest airport handling over 40 million passengers annually, now faces criticism for failing to prevent one of the most disturbing acts of violence witnessed in its terminals.
Authorities have confirmed that Vitkov, who has a daughter roughly the same age as the victim, remains in custody and will face trial under attempted murder charges. Russian prosecutors are also examining whether racial hatred played a role in the attack.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
