Martin Redding, Moscow Senior Correspondent
MOSCOW (Reuters) -- What was intended to be a day of celebration ended in a tragedy that set a community and a nation reeling. After completing their wedding vows, newlyweds Arkady and Marina Kandinsky accompanied their guests to the reception at the Izmailovsky Hotel.
While exact details are unknown, an eyewitness reports that it was just after a rambling and at times uncomfortable speech by the best man that a guest of the groom, Ivan Napitok, allegedly refused a glass of vodka offered by the bride's brother.
An off-duty police deputy attending the wedding, Pyotr Bykov, describes the scene that followed: "I was sitting on the other side of the hall when I heard a great commotion coming from the bar. After someone told me what happened, I moved immediately to secure the reception." Bykov placed the suspect into custody and notified Moscow authorities.
Riot police arrived on the scene to contain what was described as an atmosphere of mass hysteria. "It was crazy," said Daria Smelaya, a guest at the reception and eyewitness. "Many people would not believe he refused it; but we saw that he refused it. Fighting broke out. It was terrible."
Napitok, 43, works as a claims adjuster for a firm located in the Izmailovsky district. Friends and acquaintances reacted with uniform shock and disbelief at the accusations leveled against him. His landlady, who requested her name be withheld from this report, had this to say: "He always paid his rent on time. He was quiet, a good tenant. He helped me re-tile the hallways. I never would have expected this sort of behavior from him."
However, Mikhail Skuchniy, a sports psychologist at the Moscow Institute of Agriculture and Mines, says that such deviant tendencies cannot be easily detected in every case. "These things happen," explains Skuchniy, "Such deviant tendencies cannot be easily detected in every case."
A spokesman for the Kremlin issued a written statement late Tuesday night announcing that the FSB has opened a full investigation into the allegations. While inquiries to the FSB central office went unanswered, a source within the Kremlin says they are taking the situation very seriously. It is rumored that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has cut short his vacation at a dude ranch in Wyoming to personally oversee the investigation. The source went on to say that Mr. Napitok could face charges ranging from light to medium treason, for which the minimum penalty is two full readings of Anna Karenina.
As the investigation unfolds, a community is left waiting for answers. "He wouldn't explain why he refused; he simply said he didn't feel like it," recounts Smelaya. "What gives a person the right to act this way? Someone must be held responsible."
However, it appears there will be no quick answers for what has become a lightning rod of national interest. For at least one, however, the incident has remained intensely personal. "I haven't slept," says Napitok's mother, Tanya. "This is not the son I raised."
Follow this developing story at Reuters Online.
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2 comments:
Brilliant story! Particularly from the paragraph quoting Skuchniy through to the end.
Glad you enjoyed. In case you're interested, some of the names I picked have significance in Russian:
Napitok -- Beverage/drink
Bykov -- Bull
Skuchniy -- Boring
Smelaya -- Means brave, which isn't particularly humorous, except that the masculine form (smeliy) is pronounced almost exactly like the English word "smelly."
Also, I actually stayed at the Izmailovsky Hotel when I was in Moscow.
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