Youth group produces ultimate Putin meme mash-up… with sexy ladies, of course

The New York Times reports that in honor of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s birthday, "The Young Guard of the governing United Russia party released a video portraying Mr. Putin as a sex symbol fawned over by young women." But that description doesn’t really do this bizarre concoction justice.  The video is actually a reenactment of ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

The New York Times reports that in honor of Russian President Vladimir Putin's birthday, "The Young Guard of the governing United Russia party released a video portraying Mr. Putin as a sex symbol fawned over by young women." But that description doesn't really do this bizarre concoction justice. 

The New York Times reports that in honor of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s birthday, "The Young Guard of the governing United Russia party released a video portraying Mr. Putin as a sex symbol fawned over by young women." But that description doesn’t really do this bizarre concoction justice. 

The video is actually a reenactment of all of Putin’s greatest PR stunts… but with fresh-faced young United Russia beauties instead of a middle-aged bald guy. We see one riding a horse through a meadow, another behind the controls of a fighter jet, one emerging from the sea with a Grecian urn, and one beating America at hockey and making some unidentified black guy sad. (Wonder who that could represent?) Then they all receive text messages accompanied by a soundtrack of Putin singing Blueberry Hill. (I’m disappointed that they don’t have one of the ladies harpooning a whale but I guess they were on a budget.

Just watch it (Probably safe for work but you might get some odd looks): 

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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