A Russian influencer has been issued an arrest warrant by police after a distressing video of him tossing his baby into a snowdrift went viral.
It was issued by the Basmanny Court of Moscow in Russia against Sergei Kosenko, better known as Mr Thank You, who has over 46.5 million Instagram followers. It also ordered that his assets in Russia be frozen.
The Russian authorities said in a statement: “The accused threw the child away from himself and upward, allowing him to fall from a height. The criminal intent was not completed due to the child’s fall being softened by the snow cover.”
The distressing footage, which came to the attention of the Russian authorities after it went viral online and made international headlines in January last year (2024), allegedly shows the influencer tossing his then two-month-old son into the air with him then landing in the deep snowdrift as the footage ends.
The Russian authorities have now issued an arrest warrant and ordered that the influencer be extradited to Russia to face charges. They also ordered that he be detained for two months from the moment he arrives on Russian soil.
Sergei Zhorin, the suspect’s lawyer, told local media that his client was ready to cooperate with law enforcement and provide the original video footage.
The lawyer claimed that the child was not actually used for the filming and that the “video was filmed using a dummy and editing.”
But this has not stopped the Russian authorities from placing him on a wanted list on charges of attempted intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm to a minor and failure to fulfil his duties to raise a minor.
They have also frozen the influencer’s bank accounts in Russia, with local media saying that the authorities have frozen RUB 206 million (£1.6 million) distributed across 43 bank accounts.
If convicted, Kosenko, who is one of Russia’s top content creators, faces up to 10 years in prison. The influencer currently lives abroad, with reports saying that he splits his time between Los Angeles and Dubai.
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