Russian influencer sentenced to 10 months of hard labour for tickling breast of war statue

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A Russian influencer could get up to five years behind bars for filming herself tickling a famous war statue from afar.

Alena Agafonova, 23, filmed herself pretending to tickle the right breast of a giant statue in Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad.

Despite Instagram being banned in Russia, she posted video to her stories showing the statue in the distance as she wiggles her finger in front of the massive monument.

She can also be heard giggling and humming in the clip, which she shared with a laughing emoji.

Agafonova was put on Russia’s most wanted list after authorities caught wind of the video filmed last year, and she fled to Sri Lanka.

The influencer was arrested and brought back to Russia, where she was immediately taken from Moscow to Volgograd where she will be detained for two months while further investigations are carried out, the U.K. Sun reported.

Agafonova is accused of “desecration of a burial site” and “cynical actions that disregard the norms of morality” as well as the “rehabilitation of Nazism,” according to the publication.

She has also been banned from social media for two years, and will now have to pay 10% of her future earnings as a fine.

Agafanova issued an apology for the video grovelling apology for the video but still faces criminal prosecution in Volgograd and a sentence of up to five years behind bars.

“I address all residents of Russia and Volgograd and ask everyone not to commit the acts I did last year because of my stupidity,” she said, according to the Sun’s translation.

“I didn’t even think that I could insult someone’s feelings,” she added before pleading, “I ask all Russian citizens for forgiveness.”

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Footage of Agafonova’s arrest showed her being reprimanded by a law enforcement officer as she was handcuffed.

“I am informing you that the investigative department for the central district of Volgograd has a criminal case against you for the desecration of a symbol of military glory of Russia, insult to the memory of defenders of the fatherland, committed with the use of the internet,” the officer said.

The statue, called The Motherland Calls, which depicts a woman wielding a sword, stands where one of most epic battles of the Second World War took place.

It commemorates those who fought and died in the battle, which resulted in a decisive Soviet victory against Adolf Hitler.