‘Putin’ a Valentine’s Day present for Russians

OUT on DVD for Valentine’s Day across Russia is a heartwarming drama about a man and a woman who love each other and their country — and who bear an uncanny resemblance to Vladimir Putin and his wife, Lyudmila.

Just when it seemed like the Russian president’s public image had been burnished to a spotless shine by state television, along comes a film that appears to cast the steely former spy in a softer light — as smitten suitor, loving husband and dedicated father.

Producer Anatoly Voropayev coyly claims the lead character in The Kiss is Off the Record is based on a collective image, not the president himself.

“We believe that since today we are not ashamed of our leader, why not make heroes who are like him?”

Its nationwide release on DVD comes 17 days before the election of his successor, at a time of uncertainty about Mr Putin’s future role.

At a special screening at a packed Moscow movie house some opposition activists disrupted the viewing with shouts of “Putin’s an executioner!” and unfurled a banner that read: “Putin is a criminal.”

Film critics alternately lambasted it as crude propaganda and sniffed “it’s so bad it couldn’t have been commissioned by the Kremlin, too embarrassing”.

Over the past eight years, the Kremlin has spent a lot of effort promoting images of Putin in his public role as a decisive, stalwart and indomitable leader. Television viewers see him almost every night — flying in a jet fighter, speaking in ornate Kremlin halls, chewing out Cabinet ministers. But little is known of his private life. He seems to talk about his dog more than his family. His daughters’ lives are nearly invisible. First lady Lyudmila Putin is rarely seen, more rarely heard.