$1 Million for Putin’s head

Russian President Vladimir Putin is very popular among the Russian people. Though, this popularity does not always means love. Sometimes, it means hate

According to Tatnetws.Ru, on the wall of a house in the city of Chelyabinsk, a scandalous leaflet appeared, promising 1 million dollar for the Putin head.

In the middle of July, low-enforcers detained a 32-year-old citizen Ch., who introduced himself as the leader of Chelyabinsk social-anarchists. As it turned out, that night, he had distributed 200 leaflets in Chelyabinsk.

Publicly insulting an official is a crime punishable with a fine of 5,000 rubles (approximately $ 160.00) or even with 1-year prison term. However, the accused turned out to be on the lists of a mental clinic. Therefore, forced treatment is guaranteed. On July 19, the social-anarchist was handed over to Federal Security Service. However, this measure seems to have been taken for show, because the case looks strange. As for Putin himself, there are examples of another kind of the president's popularity.

Here are three of examples This June, an ice-cream company of the city of Nizhny Tagil started to produce ice-cream on stick called "President." According to NTVRu.com, two years ago, at a Nizhny Tagil milk production exhibition in which Putin participated, local producers were affected by Putin eating ice-cream. At that time, an idea appeared to create a new sort of ice-cream in honour of the president. The new variety was socially called “sweet Vovochka” (“Vova” or “Vovochka” is diminutive of Vladimir). It costs only 5 rubles (approximately $ 0.16).

This spring, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported on a new children’s game, “Manager of Russia.” On the box, Vladimir Putin is pictured. He points with his finger at an inscription: “To children from the president: Learn business for the welfare of Russia!” The game teaches children to find their bearings in today’s world of market economy. On the next version of the game, the name Putin is promised to appear.

The third case is the wooden equestrian statue of Vladimir Putin created by a prisoner of a special security prison Ivan Oleinikov, sentenced to 9 years for a murder.

The wooden President is very similar to a Russian epic hero. The sculpture was placed not far from administration building of the prison. According to Izvestia.Ru, the statue was created within one year. At first, Oleinikov wanted to create a statue of Russian saint Alexandr Nevsky, though the horseman lost his beard by chance and the ex-prince became very similar to the president. A sincle case or not, Putin was created of Alexandr Nevsky.

Sergei Stefanov PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Vera Solovieva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/07/23/44529.html