Support The Moscow Times!

Drunk Driver Flees Police by Driving Through Russian Airport Terminal, Blues-Bros-Style

After midnight on Wednesday, a drunk driver in Kazan tried to evade police by driving his car into the international terminal of the city’s airport. According to the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, officers finally captured the man outside, after he drove through the airport’s interior and emerged on the other side of the building.

Eyewitnesses reportedly say the driver knocked down a barrier leading into the airport’s parking lot, before the police responded. When officers cornered him near a locked glass door leading into the international terminal, he crashed through it and drove into the airport.

The scene was like something straight out of the 1980 comedy “The Blues Brothers,” where the titular heroes famously drove through a crowded shopping mall, to escape police cars in pursuit.

Miraculously, no one was injured in the incident, according to the airport’s official Twitter account. A preliminary estimate puts the damages at roughly 6 million rubles ($100,000)

The local newspaper Kazansky Reporter says the driver may have been Ruslan Nurtdinov, the general director of a private detective agency, but police have yet to confirm this information.

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter

Our weekly newsletter contains a hand-picked selection of news, features, analysis and more from The Moscow Times. You will receive it in your mailbox every Friday. Never miss the latest news from Russia. Preview
Subscribers agree to the Privacy Policy

A Message from The Moscow Times:

Dear readers,

We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."

These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.

By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.

Once
Monthly
Annual
Continue
paiment methods
Not ready to support today?
Remind me later.

Read more