Vladimir Putin ’s police have swooped on a rally of expensive Western cars in Moscow, brutally detaining their “rich and successful” owners.
Footage shows the crackdown against the wealthy drivers flaunting their foreign vehicles on Moscow’s streets, as huge numbers of Russian soldiers are dying in the war in Ukraine.
A leading pro-Putin senator called for the detained men to be sent to take part in the military operation.
Police claimed there was no permission for the elite rally of around 170 Lamborghinis, Rolls-Royce Phantoms, Ferraris, Porsches, Hummer H1s, Chevrolet Corvette C8s, Audi RS5s, and Bentley Continental GT IIs.
Dozens of car owners were detained by armed police and their cars impounded for checks.
Vladimir Putin is known to rage against Russian multi-millionaires and their scions who ostentatiously display their riches in front of the masses.
He once said: "In Soviet times, some people used to flaunt their wealth by implanting gold teeth, ideally front teeth, in order to demonstrate the size of their fortune.
"Lamborghinis and other expensive toys are exactly those gold teeth.”
A tiny oligarch set has grown astonishingly wealthy under Putin’s rule - yet he believes they should not flaunt their opulent toys.
The issue is even more acute now, with Russia ’s struggling economy hit by Western sanctions.
Drivers intended to parade their cars in central Moscow with "Rich and Successful” stickers.
Tickets for the unofficial rally cost up to £4,200 including a breakfast and afterparty, but police smashed it before it got properly underway.
One seized by police was Oscar Liksutov, 17, son of Maksim Liksutov, head of the Moscow Transport Department.
He was not detained but escorted to the home of the top city official.
Rally organiser Alexei Khitrov, a 28-year-old cryptocurrency millionaire, has said: "The goal of this event is to gather all elite car owners and create an atmosphere for networking.”
When police moved in “at first I thought it was a joke”, he said.
He queried who had ordered the crackdown, and why, claiming the authorities were informed in advance.
In acting against him, they were “extinguishing a most loyal person”.
A law enforcement source told TASS: “Currently, some of the participants have been identified. They will be taken to the police for investigation.”
Russian senator Mikhail Dzhabarov demanded “punishment” for parading their Western cars.
“They should be called to help the army,” he demanded.
They would be useless for fighting at the front, he said.
He added: “But they are quite capable of helping in rear chores or as orderlies in military hospitals.”
The rally participants were suspected of breaking the same law that is used to crush political protests in Russia.
The law curbs “meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches and picketing”.
One of the detained was Russian politician Alexander Donskoy, ex-mayor of Arkhangelsk, who once got into trouble for driving his Ferrari around a Moscow shopping mall.
Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has also attacked Russia’s golden youth for their flash Western cars.
He said: "If those of our people who have a lot of money would worry not only about the number of horsepower under their bonnets, and the number of floors in their houses, but also what those next to them think about it, then the psychological atmosphere in our country would be much better."
