The personal driver of Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu was fined and reprimanded for threatening to shoot in the head a motorist who refused to give way, news web site Infox.ru reported Sunday.
A video posted on YouTube on Saturday showed Shoigu’s Mercedes sedan, identified by its license plates, trying to pass other cars in a traffic jam on the Moscow Ring Road but making slow progress despite its siren and flashing blue lights, which give officials’ cars priority on the road.
At one point when a driver refuses to give way, the Mercedes’ driver is heard barking through a loudspeaker: “You moron, do you need a shot to the head, you dope?”
Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova told Infox.ru that Shoigu was not present in the car at the time of the incident. She added that the driver, whose name was withheld, was issued an official reprimand over the incident and deprived of an unspecified monthly bonus.