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Viral Putin

- February 17, 2012

In a sign that someone other than Jeremy Lin can still attract online attention, two Vladimir Putin visual “photo shops” are making the rounds. The first is punny:

The second a bit more serious:

Even if you don’t speak Russian, you should be able to get the gist of this video – it is a very sophisticated mock up of a news report of Putin going on trial (and yes, in Russia the accused does sit in a cage in the court room). The video has gone viral in Russia; as RFE/RL reports:

In just two days, a 50-second video titled “The Arrest of Vladimir Putin: A Report From The Courtroom” has been watched almost 2 million times on YouTube and republished to dozens of Russian blogs and websites.

Viewers have left more than 18,000 comments, including calls that the producer be awarded an Oscar for film editing.

The startlingly realistic clip, in the style of a Russian television news report, purports to show “former” Prime Minister Vladimir Putin being hauled into a Moscow courtroom to face charges including large-scale corruption and participating in a terrorist act with the purpose of intimidating the public and influencing the government. The charge apparently refers to the 1999 apartment-building bombings that rocked Moscow and other Russian cities in the run-up to Putin taking over the presidency in 2000.

The full article from RFE/RL is available here.

[h/t to Per Dutton and Matthew Evangelista.]