Video shows a Russian YouTuber striking himself in the face with a Western anti-tank weapon after holding it the wrong way
- Russian vlogger Alexey Smirnov posts videos of himself reviewing and testing various weapons.
- Smirnov was mocked online after posting a clip of himself misfiring a Swedish anti-tank weapon.
A video shows a Russian military YouTuber striking himself in the face with the recoil from a Western anti-tank weapon after holding it the wrong way.
Alexey Smirnov, a former journalist, reviews, tests, and compares various weapons on his YouTube channel called Large Caliber Commotion.
In an episode, originally posted three months ago, Smirnov compares Soviet and Western anti-tank weapons, including the Swedish AT4. It is unclear where he got the Swedish weapon from.
At one point in the video, Smirnov attempts to shoot the shoulder-fired weapon at a tank, announcing: "Here we have the ordinary AT4 ... let's see how it deals with a T72 tank."
The vlogger goes on to explain the launcher works while fiddling with it, saying at one point that it doesn't feel "very smooth."
As he prepares to fire, Smirnov appears to not hold on to the front grip of the AT4, which is designed to help steady the weapon when being aimed.
The video then shows him pressing the trigger, causing the weapon to launch back into his face. He then falls backward, shouting: "Ah, fuck … you bastard thing!"
The video cuts to Smirnov on his back holding his eye as a cameraman offers to help him up. A text then appears on the screen, reading: "Thank you for understanding."
The next shot shows Smirnov standing in front of the tank, a visible bruise forming around his eye.
"Right, let's have a look before my eye swells up completely," he then says. "This is why I keep saying that NATO provides shitty ammunition."
"You are telling me that as a shooter you are expected to have panda eyes every time you have a mission?" he says, later adding: "I'm feeling a little nauseous, to be honest."
The clip resurfaced on social media this week and drew immediate mockery, with some Twitter users commenting that the vlogger should have "read the fucking manual."
Illia Ponomarkeno, a defense reporter for The Kyiv Independent, posted the clip alongside another video of American troops firing the launcher correctly — by holding the front handle.
"Russians," Ponomarkenko captioned the side-by-side.
Smirnov goes by the name Krupnokalibernyy Perepolokh on YouTube. He started his military vlogs in 2020 and at the time of writing, has almost 1.5 million followers.
Aside from anti-tank weapons, Smirnov also reviews grenades, flamethrowers, and armored personnel carriers and tanks.