THE GUARDIAN: Difkat Khantimerov claims he was merely repeating a lesson he had learned in the Red army
A regional Russian official sacked for forcing a group of teenagers to kiss his feet has defended his actions, claiming he was merely repeating a lesson he had learned in the Red army.
The official, Difkat Khantimerov, was fired over the weekend after a video posted on YouTube exposed the bizarre incident. The official took charge of a PE lesson and ordered a basketball squad to perform a series of arduous press-ups. He then stuck out his right shoe and ordered the boys to kiss it.
With the teenagers struggling to carry out his request, Khantimerov barked out a series of military-style commands, including "Harder!" "One, two!" and "Kiss!". The clip shows him withdrawing his foot. He then crouches down, and lays his hand flat on the gym floor to be kissed instead.
The extraordinary episode took place in Bashkortostan, a largely Muslim region of southern Russia in the Urals. On Saturday the republic's president, Rustem Khamitov, said he was "relieving the official of his duties" after watching the video on the internet.
"This looks like an outrage, an insult against schoolchildren," the president said, according to Russian news agencies. The president was "indignant to the bottom of his soul," his press secretary, Airat Murzagaleev, said today. >>> Luke Harding in Moscow | Monday, September 13, 2010
