The clip appears to show Vladimir Putin standing handcuffed behind bars, his head bowed.
The voiceover of a newsreader’s voice tells viewers that: “The former prime minister was brought to the Khamovnichesky court about half-an-hour ago”. Putin is said to be involved in fraud, theft and “organising an act of terrorism” intended to frighten the population.
The video is, in fact, a clever spoof in which Putin’s head has been superimposed on the face of jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsk but it has been met with glee, racking up more than two million views on Youtube.
The trial actually shown in the film is that of Khodorkovsky – a sworn enemy of Putin – who was convicted of tax evasion and fraud and has been jailed until 2016.
The Putin video has prompted a flurry of comments in Russian which none of the TNT staff are able to read them. However, according to Google Translate, most messages slate the Russian PM, calling him ‘Botox’ and generally expressing their wishes that we was, in reality, going to jail.
Watch Putin on trial here:
