Shocking footage has sparked international outrage after a Ukrainian fitness star and his partner were filmed treating a nesting sea turtle like a fairground ride, sitting on the distressed animal as it tried to lay its eggs, then picking up newly hatched babies.
The pair, identified as 32-year-old calisthenics champion Vadym Oleynik and Odesa cosmetologist Olena Kravchenko, were stopped by Royal Oman Police at the airport as they attempted to leave the country, according to reports. Oman’s Environment Authority has confirmed it has taken legal action over the incident at the protected Ras Al Hadd nesting beaches.
The clip, which first spread through conservation groups before exploding across social media, shows the muscular trainer in black shorts clambering onto the back of a large green sea turtle on the darkened beach. He poses, flexes, throws his arms in the air, slides off into the sand, then climbs back on again while the animal struggles to move. His companion films and can be seen joining in. They also pick up tiny hatchlings.
Italian conservation project Biologicamente, which helped draw attention to the video, was scathing. A serious organisation with a scientific committee, it said, would never allow volunteers to sit on a turtle’s shell ‘for a crappy selfie. It is not a bloody chair or a bench.’Ras Al Hadd and nearby Ras Al Jinz are among the most important green turtle nesting sites in the region. Thousands of females come ashore each summer. Oman’s rules are unambiguous: visitors must not touch, approach, or disturb the animals. Handling hatchlings is especially harmful, the babies need to crawl unassisted from nest to sea, and human contact causes stress, injury risk and can disrupt that first crucial journey.
The Environment Authority said it had been monitoring the circulating footage and had taken ‘the necessary legal action’ against the person responsible, in line with wildlife protection laws. It reminded tourists that protecting biodiversity is a shared responsibility and urged anyone seeing violations to report them. Exact penalties have not yet been made public.
Oleynik, a three-time world calisthenics champion, sambo master of sport, Guinness record holder and trainer based in Abu Dhabi, later posted an apology on Instagram Stories. He addressed Oman’s Environment Authority and turtle protection groups, claiming he had been misled, had not paid attention to the rules, and never intended to harm the animal. ‘I made a mistake,’ he said. Critics online were unimpressed, noting he first posted the images himself to an account with hundreds of thousands of followers.
Social media reaction was ferocious. Comments called the behaviour ‘deplorable’, ‘ugly’ and ‘animal abuse’, with some demanding jail time and the stripping of sporting titles. One widely shared remark captured the mood: imagine being a mother already struggling to lay your eggs, and meeting this.
The couple has not issued a detailed public statement beyond the apology video. Whether they will face a fine, deportation, a ban from the reserve, or more serious charges remains unclear as the case proceeds.
Conservationists say the episode is a reminder that even well-intentioned or ‘volunteer’ visits can go badly wrong when rules are ignored for content. The turtles of Ras Al Hadd have nested on these beaches for millennia. They are not props
Vadym Oleynik, the Ukrainian fitness trainer at the centre of the storm.
A green sea turtle on the beach at Ras Al Hadd, Oman, one of the region’s most important nesting sites.
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