Quadrober trend: Russian teenagers dress up as animals and walk on all fours

Russian officials accuse the West of a strange trend observed among teenagers in the country and other countries of the former Soviet Union. The little ones dress up as furry animals, wear masks and paws and crawl on all fours.

Videos on social media show them pretending to be four-legged animals and also growling and meowing. They even behave like them when they come into contact with a human. One of them reportedly bit a man.

In Uzbekistan, a teenager dressed as a dog bit a passerby. The Uzbek Interior Ministry said that a “child who witnessed the incident was very scared.” The police are looking for the perpetrator.

An Uzbek spokesman said: “This has been the case with young people in Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine. Unfortunately, similar unacceptable actions were also observed in the city of Tashkent.”

A senior Russian politician claims the trend is part of a “dehumanization project” launched by the West. Police and politicians are cracking down on these teenagers, also known as Quadrober or Kvadrober.

The Russian parliamentary leader claimed that Brussels and Washington were behind the enthusiasm.

Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on Telegram: “Washington and Brussels are losing their dominance. In order to continue to dominate the world, they are implementing the ‘dehumanization’ project.”

He further claimed that such acts seem just like a game and a joke but are part of a larger plot.

“The offer to try out the role of animals, fictional characters, mythical creatures. Such manifestations only at first glance look like a game and a joke. Behind this lies a serious program of rejection of humanity and everything human,” he explained.

Other politicians are calling for a ban on the trend in Russia. Speaking to state news agency RIA Novosti, Russian Senator Natalia Kosikhina said she believes this trend will have “tragic consequences” and “traumatize the psyche” of Russian children.

The country’s pop stars are now supporting the movement. Mia Boyka, a pop star, asked a young fan in her crowd if she was a “cat or, God forbid, a quad.”

Russian singer Egor Kreed is all for the Movemen, saying we all “impersonated cats and dogs as children.” According to the Moscow Times, he says he is against “publicly condemning people for their hobbies and choices.”

Uzbek authorities are taking strict action and have threatened to fine parents of children caught following this trend nearly 1.9 million Uzbek soums (around $145).

A “special psychological assessment” of the child could also be carried out to “determine how the quadrobics affects the child’s mental and emotional health”.