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Man Claiming to Have “Cut Off Heads” in Ukraine Arrested After Knife Threat in Minsk Café
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![Photo of Cyril Barabaltchouk]( "Photo of Cyril Barabaltchouk")
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Police in Minsk detained a 29-year-old man who threatened a café patron with a knife after shouting that he had “cut people’s heads off” while fighting in Ukraine, Belarusian outlet Nexta reported on November 5.
The incident took place in a café on Rokossovsky Avenue in broad daylight. Witnesses said the man, reportedly intoxicated, brandished a knife and an object resembling a pistol, demanding that another customer “step outside to talk.”
The victim managed to calm the assailant into dropping the knife before escaping and alerting authorities. Police later apprehended the man, who is now charged with aggravated hooliganism.
While investigators have not confirmed whether the suspect actually fought in Ukraine, the case has stirred alarm in Minsk, highlighting growing reports of violent behavior by so-called “special military operation veterans” returning from Russia’s war against Ukraine, Nexta wrote.
Previously, it was reported that the Kremlin is increasingly concerned that the return of tens of thousands of veterans from the war in Ukraine—including many former prisoners—may pose a serious internal threat to Vladimir Putin’s regime.
According to the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine (SZRU), Russian authorities anticipate that returning soldiers may become a destabilizing force, both politically and socially, particularly as they face reintegration into a society marked by low wages, economic uncertainty, and limited social support.
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