RUSSIA: Supporters of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hand out flowers in streets and publish a promo video on the web in campaigning leading up to the March 4 presidential elections

Record ID: 346515

  • Title: RUSSIA: Supporters of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hand out flowers in streets and publish a promo video on the web in campaigning leading up to the March 4 presidential elections
  • Date: 2nd March 2012
  • Summary: PRO-PUTIN AD ON SCREEN INSCRIPTION FROM PRO-PUTIN ELECTION AD READING IN RUSSIAN 'PUTIN. FIRST TIME - JUST WITH LOVE.'
  • Embargoed: 17th March 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1O2Z0B1HEGKSVU2MP5I71JT0F
  • Story Text: Young supporters of the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin marked the first day of spring on Thursday (March 1) by handing out flowers to passersby on Pushkin Square in central Moscow.
    Flowers were delivered by truck with a sign on board reading 'Spring. Vladimir Putin supporters' network' with Russian word for spring - 'vesna' - written with a double V as the first letter, a hint at Putin's initials - Vladimir Vladimirovich.
    "I think he (Putin) is the only candidate who in principle will be able to prevent any upheaval and revolution in Russia. He is a (presidential) candidate who I 100 percent believe and who I will go vote for," Anna, one of the girls handing out flowers said.
    Some of the Putin supporters wore heart-shaped signs reading 'Love instead of politics.'
    "You know, girls are such tender creatures that they can not be blamed for anything. If they confess love then it means they love sincerely, so let them have warm feeling towards their candidate," one of the girls handing out flowers - Viktoria - said.
    A woman driving past, who received the flowers said she was pleased with the gift.
    "It's cool, it's very good. I was really pleased, this is a whole bunch of flowers," Maya said.
    Other campaign tactics from Putin supporters have centred on the word love, with several videos appearing online featuring young girls voting for Putin.
    In one suggestive video a girl, during an apparent visit to her psychologist says she is going to 'do it for the first time', but then insists her choice should be made in love. Her doctor, pointing at a news article with Putin's portrait, answers that trust is love, and that her choice is trustworthy.
    In another video a young girl makes a visit to a fortune-teller, apparently seeking divination about a man in her future. The fortune-teller turns over a card with Putin's face and predicts that the girl will be happy and safe with him.
    At the end of the video a message to voters reads 'Putin. First time - with love only'.
    Press representatives at Putin's campaign office have said that they are not the source of the video.
    It's not the first time suggestive videos have been put out by Putin supporters. In 2011 a group of girls calling themselves 'Putin's Army' launched a campaign with an online video, urging young women to support Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for president by taking off their clothes.
    Recent polls showed 80 percent of Russians believed the former KGB spy would win the election and return to the Kremlin while 57 percent still viewed him as "national leader," the title of choice for Putin among supporters.
    Victory in the election will give Putin, cast as Russia's "alpha-dog" leader by U.S. diplomats in confidential reports to Washington, a six-year term in the Kremlin.
    He could then run again for another term from 2018 to 2024, a quarter of a century since he was selected as the Kremlin's candidate to succeed an ailing Boris Yeltsin in late 1999. He would turn 72 on October 7, 2024.
    Russia holds presidential elections on March 4, 2012.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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