RUSSIA: HUGE DEMAND FOR MEMORABILIA REFLECTS SOARING POPULARITY OF PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN

Record ID: 648087

  • Title: RUSSIA: HUGE DEMAND FOR MEMORABILIA REFLECTS SOARING POPULARITY OF PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN
  • Date: 23rd May 2002
  • Summary: ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (RECENT)(REUTERS) 1. SCU PUBLISHING PRESS PRINTING POSTERS OF PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN; MV WORKER STACKING PUTIN POSTERS (4 SHOTS) 0.21 ST. PETRSBURG, RUSSIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) 2. SCU VLADIMIR PUTIN BUST; SCU PUTIN BUST ON A TABLE (2 SHOTS) 0.31 3. MV SCULPTOR ALEXANDER PALMIN WORKING ON PUTIN'S BUST; SCU PALMIN REMOVING CAST FROM PUTIN'S METAL BUST (2 SHOTS) 0.48 ST.PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (MAY 18, 2002) (REUTERS) 4. SCU BOXES OF "MANAGER" GAME WITH PUTIN'S PORTRAIT ON COVER; SCU WOMAN PACKING IN PLASTIC BOXES OF "MANAGER" GAME (2 SHOTS) 1.06 5. SCU BANKNOTES USED IN THE GAME / FIVE THOUSAND ROUBLE-NOTE WITH PUTIN PORTRAIT / THREE HUNDRED ROUBLE-NOTE WITH TZAR PETER THE GREAT PORTRAIT 1.12 OMSK REGION, SIBIRIA (FILE) (RUSSIAN POOL) 6. MV PUTIN SITTING AT FAMILY DINNER TABLE WHILST VISITING PEASANT FAMILY IN VILLAGE / SITTING AT A TABLE, TOASTING; MV PUTTING VISITS A BARN, LOOKS AT A CALF (5 SHOTS) 1.40 ST.PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) 7. MV ST.PETERSBURG WORKER ALEXEI VORONOV IN HIS KITCHEN; SCU CAT EATING (2 SHOTS) 1.47 8. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) VORONOV SAYING "I picked the shoulder (to place tattoo of Putin portrait) because it was good place, the form of the head lays here nicely, to place it on the arm or upper shoulder, not a good idea, not enough space." 1.58 9. SCU PUTIN PORTRAIT TATTOO 2.04 ST.PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (MAY 19, 2002) (REUTERS) 10. SCU STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF PUTIN WITH FISH TOY HANGING ABOVE IT 2.11 11. MV MANAGER OF "RUSSIAN FISHING" MANAGER MAXIM RUMYANTSEV WALKS DOWNSTAIRS, COMES TOWARDS THE BAR, GETS THE MENU; SCU THE "PRESIDENT'S MENU" (2 SHOTS) 2.24 12. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) MAXIM RUMYANTSEV, MANAGER OF THE "RUSSIAN FISHING" RESTAURANT IN ST.PETERSBURG "They (Putin and French president Jacques Chirac) were given fishing rods by specially-trained staff and Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) was first to catch a trout from our pond. He used the fishing rod like a true pro, I can't say the same about Chirac." 2.39 13. SLV RUMYANTSEV AND STAFF; MV/SCU PUTIN'S PHOTOGRAPHS ON THE RESTAURANT'S WALL (3 SHOTS) 2.50 MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE) (REUTERS) 14. MV FIRST LADY LYUDMILA PUTIN VISITING INTERNATIONAL CRAFT FAIR (2 SHOTS) 3.17 ST.PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) 15. SLV CLASSROOM; SCU BOY AND GIRL LOOKING AT A NEW TEXTBOOK (2 SHOTS) 3.27 16. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) SCHOOLGIRL READING AN EXCERPTS FROM TEXTBOOK "All boys and girls knew that Volodya Putin is a real friend and they could always rely on him." 3.36 17. SCU STILL PHOTOGRAPHS OF YOUNG AND GROWN UP PUTIN ON THE COVER OF TEXTBOOK 3.40 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 7th June 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MOSCOW, ST PETERSBURG, OMSK, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVA2AY8F01ZCP45CMOEBVIDDA1JM
  • Story Text: George W. Bush is set for a dose of Putin-mania.

    When the American president arrives in St. Petersburg on
    May 25 to be shown the hometown of Russia's President Vladimir
    Putin, he will be in a city with some of the most fervent and
    strange fans of the seemingly popular Russian leader.

    The Arsenal Publishing House in St. Petersburg
    struggles to keep up with orders for posters of President
    Vladimir Putin.

    Such posters may have been a mandatory part of any
    government office or workplace during the Soviet times, but
    now the orders are fuelled by paying customers, all eager to
    display their support for the popular Russian leader.

    Two years after being elected President, Vladimir
    Putin's approval ratings are still high, keeping steadily at
    about 70 percent and he is particularly loved in his hometown
    of St. Petersburg.

    St. Peterburg's Putin mania has not reached the level of
    personality cult such as the ever-present image of Stalin or
    Lenin during the Communist years. But, the modern leader's
    image is being reproduced in ways and volumes far exceeding
    that of his predecessor Boris Yeltsin or that would be
    regarded as normal for European nations.

    Petersburg sculptor Alexander Palmin was the first
    Russian artist to produce a professional bust of Vladimir
    Putin. Palmin says that Putin has already proven to be a
    historic figure, deserving of being immortalised in his own
    lifetime.

    Images of Putin are already starting to appear alongside
    images of the historic face of St. Petersburg, the city's
    founder Tsar Peter the Great.

    After 14 years of publishing the popular board game
    "Manager," a Russian variant of the world-famous "Monopoly,"
    the game creators decided to put images of Vladimir Putin on
    the play bank notes along with Peter the Great.

    Putin is generally popular with ordinary Russians.

    Though he never held an elected post before winning the
    presidency, the former St. Petersburg municipal bureaucrat and
    spy has proven a savvy
    politician. He mingles comfortably with the nation's cultural
    elite and ordinary voters.

    Alexei Voronov is one ordinary working man who paid a
    rather proletarian tribute to his elected leader--a tattoo
    portrait on his right arm.

    The stark blue-ink portrait reminds of similar images
    done of Josef Stalin during Soviet times, but it was also
    trendy enough for Voronov to win a contest for the city's best
    tattoo last year.

    Putin's image has become so popular, that it is
    lucrative. You don't have to be a political fan of the
    Russian president to put up his image, now it's just good
    business sense.

    Restaurant owner Maxim Rumyantsev saw a boom in his
    business after Vladimir Putin came to eat fish with French
    President Jacques Chirac.

    Rumyantsev's staff has memorialized the culinary meeting
    with a special presidential menu just in case a client wants
    to eat the stuff of presidents.

    The young restaurant owner himself shows off political
    skills when he recalls the visit of his most profitable
    patron.

    Other business leaders are latching on to the image of
    Vladimir Putin's wife, Lyudmila Putin.

    The Putin mania may seem strange to foreigners and older
    Russians used to the cynical politics of the late Soviet era,
    but it may become quite natural for St. Petersburg's youngest
    generations, or at least the ones that have the Vladimir Putin
    books as part of their school curriculum.

    The small book tells the story of their President's
    life, impressing on the young kids that Putin was a reliable
    and true friend even as a small child.


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