Picture of Putin’s ‘Grave’ Goes Viral on Russian Internet

Paul Goble

            Staunton, March 11 – Photographs of a fake gravestone with Vladimir Putin’s picture and dates of his birth (1952) and supposed death (2019) that Tatar activist Karim Yamadayev erected at the entrance of the Magistracy in Naberezhny Chelny have gone viral on the Russian Internet over the last 24 hours, prompting VKontakte to take it down and Yamadayev to be arrested.

            On the telegram channel Naberezhny Chelny opposition figures used, the picture appeared with the suggestion that “Putin has buried the free Internet; so the residents of Naberezhny Chelny have buried Putin” (https://t.me/chelnyinfo and live-press.ru/neobichnoe/internet-vzbudorazhili-fotografii-mogili-putina-v-tatarstane).

            Photographs of this installation art appeared on numerous Runet sites today, probably providing the Kremlin with yet another reason to want to shut off the Internet from foreigners but also demonstrating that the powers that be in Russia have no sense of humor or tolerance for any criticism (mbk-news.appspot.com/region/za-ustanovku-mogily-putina/).

            Yamadayev was quickly identified and arrested and now faces up to 30 days in jail and a massive fine, and VKontakte took down the pictures where it could or defaced them otherwise. Nonetheless, they continue to circulate because as the Putin regime has not yet recognized anything posted online can never really be destroyed (meduza.io/feature/2019/03/11/vkontakte-ulichili-v-udalenii-fotografiy-s-nadgrobiyami-putina-sotsset-otvetila-chto-oni-vvodyat-polzovateley-v-zabluzhdenie).

            The most humorous and revealing aspect of the entire episode was that VKontakte said it was taking these steps lest Russians be confused about the state of health of the Russian leader.