PhotoPresident Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has gone to great lengths to cultivate an image of authority and masculinity. So when a Russian named Alexander V. Tsvetkov posted photos and comments last year depicting Mr. Putin quite differently on VKontakte, the country’s largest social network, the authorities took notice. Kiosks sell posters of Mr. Putin projecting an aura of “machismo” for Russians to show off in their homes, he said. “This is a guy who can drink a quart of vodka — even though he is a teetotaler — and wrestle a bear to the ground,” Mr. Law said. Mr. Putin is “notoriously vain,” he wrote, “so it is the perfect convergence: for Putin to be mocked in an image, and done so in an way that overtly invokes homosexuality, would indeed draw the particular ire of the regime.”

Source: New York Times April 06, 2017 21:00 UTC