- It is believed the video was filmed in the city of Vladikavkaz in southwest Russia
- Prosecutors now investigating video, thought to have been recorded by parents
- Child also uses a homophobic slur – f*****s – to refer to people not in the room
A video has been posted online showing a toddler puffing on a cigarette while adults giggle in the background.
It is believed the video was filmed in the city of Vladikavkaz, in the southwestern Russian region of North Ossetia-Alania.
Prosecutors are now investigating the footage, thought to have been recorded by the child’s parents or relatives.
Prosecutors are now investigating the footage, thought to have been recorded by the child’s parents or relatives
In the shocking clip, a toddler repeatedly sucks on a slim cigarette while holding it between two fingers and between its lips.
Adults can be heard laughing on the background.
It is not known whether the child is a boy or a girl, but Russia media note that the young smoker looks no older than two years.
The child does not cough while smoking and seems confident with the cigarette, suggesting it has smoked before.
The toddler can be seen carefully tapping the cigarette’s ashes into a nearby ashtray.
A man’s voice can be heard asking the child about people they know and the child replies with a homophobic slur – saying that some of them are good but others are ‘f*****s’.
It is not known whether the child is a boy or a girl, but Russia media note that the young smoker looks no older than two years
The parents could be deprived of their parental rights if identified and if it is proven that they neglected their child, Russian media have reported
The clip lasts two minutes. In the end an adult asks the toddler to put out the cigarette.
The clip has outraged Russian society.
The prosecutor of the autonomous republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Vladimir Vekshin, urged police to try to identify the family in the clip.
The parents could be deprived of their parental rights if identified and if it is proven that they neglected their child, Russian media have reported.