A 29-year-old Brooklyn man said he was derided as a “f–king Russian” and slugged for unfurling a flag from a pro-Putin region of Ukraine — with his attacker now charged with a hate crime.
The victim, who is Russian, was opening a package containing the flag of the Donetsk People’s Republic, a pro-Russian breakaway section of eastern Ukraine shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday when he said a neighbor took issue.
The incident comes as pro-Ukrainian sentiment in the Big Apple is at an all-time high in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I happen to have opened it in front of a balcony that had a Ukrainian flag and there was a person sitting there,” the victim, who asked not to be identified, told The Post Thursday.
“I turn around toward the balcony, I see him and I immediately walk away because I know what kind of tension and escalation this might lead to,” he said. “I know that the person might think I’m there to provoke him, which I wasn’t.”
The victim was opening a package containing a Donetsk People’s Republic flag, a pro-Russian breakaway section of eastern Ukraine when he was hit by a passerby, police said. Paul MartinkaHe said he had walked less than two blocks when he noticed his attacker was following him — and started yelling racial slurs.
“He closed the distance really quickly,” the victim said. “So it was more than just a moment of rage because there was a lot of time for his rage to quell down a bit and for him to stop and think just for a second.
“This was a moment of hate.”
He said that’s when the suspect slugged him — an attack the victim believes would’ve continued if he hadn’t called the cops.
The attack happened on Benson Avenue and 23rd Avenue in Gravesend. Paul MartinkaThe suspect, identified as Vladisla Radinovskiy, 35, had followed the victim to 23rd Avenue near Benson Avenue in Gravesend before he allegedly punched the victim, chipping his tooth, cops said.
Police arrested Radinovskiy shortly before 6 p.m. and charged him assault as a hate crime, menacing and aggravated harassment.
Radinovskiy was arraigned Thursday and released without bail pending a court appearance on May 17.
The court ordered an order of protection to stay away from the victim.
Russia continued its attacks on Ukraine on March 17, 2022.
It was not known if the suspect is Ukrainian.
He did not return a call seeking comment on Thursday.
Donetsk became home to pro-Russian separatists and broke away from Ukraine in 2014.
“I hope that these situations will never happen again in the future, and I truly do hope that very sooner rather than later Russians and Ukrainians can get along again,” the victim told The Post.
