Touching the animal's home, the octopus takes revenge on the diver in Russia - it squeezes him with tentacles around his throat, from which he barely frees himself

A diver was almost drowned by an octopus after he disturbed the creature's home while diving off the coast of remote Russia.

The now-viral video of the encounter shows the moment the diver provoked the octopus while exploring the seabed near Primorsky Krai, earlier this month.

The diver used a pole to hit the sea mollusk's burrow before grabbing the octopus, removing it from its home, the Telegraph reports.

But the octopus quickly retaliated by releasing a cloud of ink, and then wrapping its tentacles around the diver's hands.

The octopus apparently tightened its grip and began to squeeze around his neck, tightening as it climbed towards his face.

The diver, in a panic, tried to pull the angry octopus away from his neck, but failed. He then swam to the surface and continued to pull the creature.

According to reports, he managed to escape the octopus's tentacles after a few minutes. It is not known if the diver was injured during the incident.

The mollusk involved in the incident is believed to be a common octopus, scientific name octopus vulgaris, which is not known to be dangerous to humans.

The creature is venomous, although its venom is not deadly.

The dramatic video of the encounter went viral on Instagram, attracting more than 3.3 million views and hundreds of comments.

Social media users, however, were quick to criticize the diver, claiming he deserved the attack for destroying the octopus's habitat.

"A good lesson was taught, let's leave them alone," one person wrote. /Telegraph/