17:54, 19 September 2019

Well-known Russian designer compares Beslan terror act with a road accident

Artemy Lebedev. Photo: screenshot of the video https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsKiNBoIWLpIxU6vsAv3v3w

Deaths of children in the terror act in Beslan are as tragic as a death of a child in a road traffic accident, says designer Artemy Lebedev after his statement about the "Mothers of Beslan" had been criticized. The position of the blogger has been disapproved by YouTube users.

On September 3, in his video blog, designer Artemy Lebedev said that organizations like "Mothers of Beslan" and "Voice of Beslan" speculated on the tragedy for the sake of "political benefits." The blogger's statement provoked the indignation among YouTube users and the debates about whether the state should help victims of terror acts.

In September, North Ossetia held mourning events were to mark the 15th anniversary of the terror act in Beslan. The "Mothers of Beslan" Committee, which opened an account to collect assistance for about 20 victims of the terror act, faced a flood of negative statements and refused to raise funds.

On September 18, Artemy Lebedev reacted to an article posted by the Forbes stating that the "Mothers of Beslan" Committee had closed the account for donations, including after the statements voiced by designer Artemy Lebedev.

"I think this is called 'trading your grief'," said the designer. According to him, the terror act in Beslan is a terrible tragedy, but "we cannot live our whole lives being nourished by the knowledge that there was once a tragedy somewhere."

Moonlighter Games user suggested that designer Artemy Lebedev "deliberately misinterpreted everything." "He was given the theses that he was to voice, and he fulfilled everything. And the 'Mothers of Beslan' have been "actually harassed," the user wrote.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 18, 2019 at 11:10 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.