Russian cellist under fire for insulting passenger

BEIJING - A Russian cellist has come under fire in China for behaving rudely and cursing a female passenger while on a high-speed train traveling from Shenyang to Beijing Monday night.

Millions of Chinese netizens have watched the cellist's misconduct since a video of the incident was posted Tuesday night on Sina Weibo, the country's largest microblogging website.

In the clip, the cellist can be seen putting his bare feet high on the back of the chair in front of him, touching the head of a female Chinese passenger with his feet.

After her requests to lower his feet were met with silence, the woman began to beat the man's feet with a magazine, leading him to reply in fluent Chinese: "It's comfortable! Do it again! You're giving me a massage!"

The cellist then proceeded to ignore the woman, who can be heard saying "you really bring shame on your country!"

After resorting to pelting the man with water bottles, the woman finally received a reply from the cellist in the form of several insults: "You silly idiot! You son of a bitch! You are insane!" -- all in Chinese.

The furious woman then attempted to start a physical brawl with the man, but was held back by other passengers. A train security officer who arrived on the scene later said simply "Forget it! He is an artist."

The video sparked strong indignation after it was posted on the Internet. The Russian man was later recognized as Oleg Vedernikov, a 45-year-old award-winning cellist who plays for the Beijing Symphony Orchestra.

"How can such a morally ugly man play melodious music?" wrote netizen "Xing Zou De Kun Jie" on Sina Weibo.

"Why does the Beijing Symphony Orchestra employ such an uncivilized man? How can you expect his music to be pure? Who wants to listen to his music?" another netizen using the name "ZJL_ SHOW" wrote.

In response, the Beijing Symphony Orchestra announced Thursday that Vedernikov has been suspended from the orchestra and is awaiting disciplinary measures.

Vedernikov himself also posted a video on the Internet Thursday, apologizing in Russian for his misconduct on the train.

"I feel deeply sorry for my behavior. I offer an apology to the woman and the public as well. Meanwhile, I apologize for the negative impact on the Beijing Symphony Orchestra due to my bad behavior," Vedernikov said.

However, his apology largely failed to soothe the public's anger.

"Why didn't you use Chinese language to offer an apology, since you can speak such good Chinese? Your apology is so insincere," wrote netizen "Wei An and Susan" on Sina Weibo.

"This artist is so good at using Chinese to insult others. I wonder how such an uncivilized foreigner was able to get a visa to China?" wrote netizen "TTbabyy".