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Russian police publish guide to taking selfies without killing yourself

Dan Peleschuk
GlobalPost
Two women pose for a selfie on Red Square with St. Basil's Cathedral, left, and the Spasskaya Tower, right in Moscow in this file photo from Oct. 6, 2014. Alarmed by the number of Russians who have been killed while taking photos of themselves with smartphones, Russian police have started a new campaign called "Safe Selfies." The instructions issued Tuesday, July 7, 2015, warn against standing on railroad tracks, climbing onto roofs or posing with a gun or a tiger.

KIEV, Ukraine — Police in Russia might be known for cracking skulls and taking bribes, but now they're taking on a truly civic-minded task: teaching you how to properly take selfies.

Citing a recent string of selfie-induced accidents — some of them deadly — the Russian Interior Ministry on Tuesday launched an information campaign to instruct citizens on the safest ways to get those memorable shots.

It includes an infographic guide, crowdsourcing tools for safe selfie techniques and a hashtag in Russian meaning #safeselfie.

"When a person is trying to photograph themselves, their attention is scattered, they lose their balance, they don't look look around and feel no danger," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Some of the tips — such as advising against selfies with wild animals, firearms or at significant heights — may seem like no-brainers. But Russians have proved there's little they won't do for a solid selfie.

Among the more memorable cases was an incident last month when a drunk Siberian man accidentally toppled a statue of Vladimir Lenin while trying to photograph himself with the Communist leader.

Then there were the two fishermen — also in Siberia — who wound up in the hospital after reportedly attempting to take a selfie with a snake, their hands swollen from venom.

But the practice has also had far more tragic consequences.

A worker takes a selfie before removing a yellow and blue Ukrainian flag attached by protesters atop a Stalin-era skyscraper in Moscow in this file photo taken Aug. 20, 2014. Alarmed by the number of Russians who have been killed while taking photos of themselves with smartphones, Russian police have started a new campaign called "Safe Selfies."

Just last weekend, a 21-year-old Muscovite fell to her death from a city bridge during a selfie attempt. In May, another 21-year-old woman accidentally shot herself in the head with a non-lethal pistol, causing severe injury, while trying to strike a pose.

Other grim incidents involving selfie-takers have included electrocutions and even deadly grenade explosions. In fact, police reported that about 100 people have been injured and at least 10 killed since the beginning of the year while attempting selfies.

It's not just the police who are worried.

A civic group called For Security recently petitioned the Education and Science Ministry to introduce lessons in Russian schools — featuring psychologists, cops and professional photographers — on how to take safer selfies.

"It's necessary to impress from childhood that such an easy path to accomplishment is dangerous," Dmitry Kurdesov, the group's director, told the Izvestiya newspaper this week.

This article originally appeared on the website of GlobalPost. Its content was created separately from USA TODAY.

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