Putin 'arrest' video goes viral

Posted By Joshua Keating Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - 5:41 PM Share

Someone in the Russian opposition has some impressive video editing skills. The video above, which uses some digital trickery to show Prime Minister Vladimir Putin being indicted on corruption and terrorism charges, has been viewed over 2 million times on YouTube. (There's a non-embeddable subtitled version over at the Guardian.) RFE/RL summarizes:

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.

A sour-looking Putin sits in a cage and answers the judge's questions as cameras capture the scene. The audio of Putin's voice was taken from a televised report on Putin participating in the 2010 Russian census.

The rest of the footage seems to be taken from the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

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JUPITER

3:12 AM ET

February 16, 2012

Best example of Youtube dissent since that Chinese rabbit video!

Is the apartment bombing coup theory a conspiracy from the fringes of Russian society (similar to our '9/11 Truthers') or is it a widely-held popular suspicion?

BILLBROWSKI

10:07 AM ET

February 16, 2012

great movie ever!

I like this :D
Editor: ask a doctor if everything is ok with Putin :)

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