Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency:  Newsflash

This is the moment a thug repeatedly punches a young woman in a lift in a residential complex in Russia.

The man and the victim, whose names were not reported, were filmed by a CCTV camera in the lift at the Yuzhnye Vorota residential complex in the city of Tomsk in the Russian region of Tomsk Oblast in the early hours of Sunday, 2nd January.

The footage was widely shared on Russian social networks later that day, and the authorities are now trying to identify the two people seen in the clip.

The CCTV footage shows how the man pushes the woman into the lift before she dabs at her face with a tissue.

He then shoves her against a wall and repeatedly punches her as she bends over to protect herself.

The doors open and the pair leaves the lift as the video ends.

The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a statement: “Regarding a video posted on the Internet of an incident in one of the elevators on Koroleva Street, 6, officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Tomsk region are taking measures to establish all the circumstances surrounding the incident.”

The investigation is ongoing and it is unclear if the police have identified the man and the victim in the footage yet.