Story By: Gheorghi Caraseni, Sub Editor:  Joseph Golder,  Agency: Newsflash

This wealthy Russian influencer and businesswomen has been slammed by netizens for accepting government aid packages meant to help struggling families during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marina Trubitsyna from the city of Novosibirsk in the southern Russian region of Novosibirsk Oblast was criticised after sharing photos of the aid packages on social media.

According to reports, the mother-of-three owns a luxury lingerie store in the city centre as well as two expensive cars and many netizens believed that she should not have accepted the government freebies.

One Instagram user wrote: “Are you crazy? There are so many families struggling to live on 5,000 RUB (55 GBP) a month and you are accepting aid from the state! You buy your kids luxury clothes and have cars worth 3 million RUB (32,500 GBP). Shame on you!”

Another netizen said: “This aid is to help families too poor to buy necessary items for themselves during the lockdown.”

The online backlash forced Trubitsyna to defend her actions for her near-million Instagram followers.

The businesswoman said: “I always claim the relevant benefits, allowances and travel cards even though we own two cars. At school, because there are a lot of kids, they gave us bags of items.

“There were buckwheat, fish, stews, dried fruits, jam, etc – two large bags. I shared it on Instagram Stories and people said ‘why should they give aid to those who do not need it?’.”

“Am I not a citizen? Do I not have children? Am I not the mother of schoolchildren? Am I not a taxpayer?

“I fulfil my obligations and I know my rights. It does not matter what my income is, everyone needs food.”

According to regional health minister Sergey Fedorchuk, the aid was not supposed to go just to large families with schoolchildren but also to the parents of disabled children.

He added that a family’s income is not considered in the initiative.