Volgograd snow slide bans photography and complaints

At the entrance to the winter recreation center in the Kirovsky district of Volgograd, where the tubing slide is located, a sign has appeared. It prohibits handing over photos and videos from the territory to journalists without permission, threatening lawsuits.

This slide has already drawn attention after a series of incidents involving children. On 27 December 2025, at least two minors were injured. According to medical documents, one was diagnosed with a concussion, and the other had a head wound stitched up.

In addition, there have been complaints from residents of neighboring residential complexes about constant noise from snow cannons, which, they say, were operating around the clock.

The situation has drawn the interest of Rospotrebnadzor (the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing) and the Chairman of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin. Meanwhile, a request sent to the center’s administration on 29 December 2025 has so far gone unanswered.

The head of the legal firm «Spartak», attorney Roman Grebennikov, assessed the owner’s threats as legally untenable.

This threat has no legal force, as it contradicts the fundamental norms of Russian law and the public interests protected by law. Restrictions on access to information can only be established by federal laws (Part 3, Article 55 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation). Human and civil rights and freedoms may be restricted by federal law only to the extent necessary to protect the foundations of the constitutional order, morality, health, the rights and lawful interests of others, and to ensure the country«s defense and state security.

Even if the object is private property, this does not negate the right of citizens to collect and disseminate information about it in the public interest (Article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation). Everyone has the right to freely seek, receive, transmit, produce and disseminate information by any lawful means. The list of information constituting a state secret is determined by federal law. It is possible to prohibit filming and publishing materials only in exceptional cases, for example, if it is a state secret, a violation of the private life of specific individuals (for example, filming children without parental consent for commercial use) or a trade secret (which must be properly documented).