Image copyright VKontakte

Two women in Russia's Leningrad region have been filmed destroying a children's seesaw after complaining about the noise.

Brandishing a saw, the two women took turns cutting the playground equipment into pieces.

Video of the incident was uploaded to social media network VKontakte on Wednesday, Russian media reports.

Since then, the footage has been shared widely, accumulating hundreds of thousands of views.

According to the regional Russian news service 78 News, the women were acting to help their 100-year-old neighbour, who had been disturbed by the noise.

In the video, residents can be seen remonstrating with the pair as bewildered children look on.

"I can't stand it any longer," one of the women says.

"What are you doing in front of children? Do you have any idea or not?" an onlooker responds.

Image copyright VKontakte

On social media, critics condemned the behaviour of the two women.

These "vandal grannies will now need to either set up a new seesaw at their own expense or fix this one," one social media user declared.

"They should have brought some oil to stop the seesaw from screeching," another commented. "But they took a saw and now they are all over the news like some vandals."

Swings and roundabouts

Others expressed sympathy with the pair.

"Why has everyone ganged up on these grannies instead of educating kids who are yelling like crazy near people's windows?" one person asked.

"Don't be judgmental, please," another social media user implored. "Live to their age first. You'd be annoyed by the sound I assure you."

Noisy playground equipment has led to destruction in Russia before. In 2018, two men used an angle grinder to destroy a metal swing outside their homes in Bryansk, southwest of Moscow.