Chinese diplomats were at a loss after Russia barred entry to all Chinese citizens as a coronavirus prevention measure, but today another news comes in that sounds even stranger. In the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, Cossacks walk the streets in search of people of “Chinese affiliation” and “everyone who sneezes”.

In Russian city of Yekaterinburg, Cossacks created “vaccination patrols” – they detain people of Asian descent, as well as “everyone who sneezes,” and then they are taken to a clinic for an unknown purpose, being sick or not. This was reported by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti .

The site published this news with the headline “In Yekaterinburg, Cossacks will check market workers for coronavirus.” Further, Russian site explain that “market workers” mean “migrants from Asian countries.” However, they do not specify the level of competence of Cossacks in virology and do not explain why patrols are called “vaccination”.

“Ataman” Gennady Kovalev said: “The patrol leaves on Mondays and Fridays from 6pm to 8pm. They walk, search for people of Chinese affiliation and pay attention to everyone who sneezes, offer them to go to the clinic accompanied by a patrol, but on a voluntary basis.”

The Russian resource does not specify whether Yekaterinburg polyclinics have the ability to detect coronavirus. It is planned that in the future Cossacks will acquire pyrometers for remote temperature monitoring.

Ataman also said that similar patrols took to the streets of Russian Ryazan.

Cossack patrols came into the limelight in 2014 when they whipped the Pussy Riot punk group.