In Vladivostok, a woman said that on the evening of July 9, a man in military uniform threatened her with a weapon on the street as she was going to pick up her child from kindergarten. The local Telegram channel Safonka was the first to report the incident.
According to the woman, the man pointed a pistol at her, questioned her, and, she said, accompanied this with threats and insults. She told the local outlet News.vl that another man was nearby and, according to her account, watched what was happening and smiled.
“The man pointed a weapon at me and asked questions. His companion stood there and smiled. Then, when he told me to move and I started walking, he threatened to shoot me. I was in shock and cried all the way home,” the woman said.
On July 11, Vladivostok police published a video on social media showing the man apologizing. Law enforcement said he was a 35-year-old local resident. The police did not specify whether he had taken part in the war. The woman, however, said after speaking with police that he was in fact a veteran of the “special military operation” and had a prior conviction.
Police seized a pneumatic pistol from him. In the published video, his face was blurred, and he was wearing an ordinary T-shirt rather than military uniform.
The outlet Baikal 24, commenting on the apology video, suggested that the case might be quietly dropped. Against this backdrop, Russian media have repeatedly reported crimes involving veterans returning from the war, including former prisoners pardoned in exchange for taking part in combat. According to calculations by Novaya Gazeta Europe, by the end of 2025 Russian courts had handed down more than 8,000 criminal verdicts against participants in the war.