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Police investigate vandalism attack at Sakharov Center exhibition in Moscow

An unknown individual spray-painted the works of Alexander Vasyukovich and Sergey Loyko, the winners of the "Straight view" competition, dedicated to the armed conflict in Ukraine

MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/. Police have launched a probe into a vandalism attack at an exhibition at the Sakharov Center in Moscow, where an unknown individual spray-painted the works of Alexander Vasyukovich and Sergey Loyko, the winners of the "Straight view" competition, dedicated to the armed conflict in Ukraine, a source in Moscow’s law enforcement agencies stated.

The Sakharov Center said on its Facebook page that on Wednesday someone had spray-painted the works of the contest’s winners, Vasyukovich and Loyko. The statement also said that war was, first and foremost, "sorrow, suffering, death" and that photography gives everyone an opportunity to see it all. However, the Sakharov Center representatives noted that "some members of the society are poisoned with hatred to such an extent that any public talk about the tragedy of war becomes impossible."

"The police have started a probe into the incident, measures are being taken for the identification and detention of the perpetrator," the law enforcement source said.

On Wednesday, a meeting with the competition winner Alexander Vasyukovich was held at the Sakharov Center. Ren-TV correspondents present at the event reported that the individual who had spray-painted the photographs was Anton Belikov, an artist. The TV channel was able to capture the artist on video walking past the photographs, spraying paint at them and cursing the exhibition’s organizers. Some time later the young man announced that he was "against fascists" and that the photos displayed "people killing women and children", then he ripped the competition winners’ photos off the wall.