Putin gaining popularity in the Ukraine – as subject of gag gifts

Portraits of President Vladimir Putin in the Ukrainian capital? Plenty – but they’re printed on toilet paper. The Kremlin leader’s stern features stare from novelty rolls sold for 20 hrvyna (US$1.50) in Kiev gift shops. He appears on T-shirts emblazoned with an obscene slogan. He’s on doormats. “He’s popular,” jokes Svitlana Khotumsova, 25, who runs a small shop under Maidan Square, epicentre of Ukraine’s pro-Western street revolts. While Moscow now controls two large chunks of Ukraine, it appears to have lost the vast majority of Ukrainians themselves.

What is striking… are the cultural similarities rather than differences. This is a clash of brothers rather than a clash of civilisations.

Akos Lada, who is researching war between states with shared identities at Harvard University, in an article for The Washington Post

The big Slavic split appears to reach right through society. Rumours this week of a pro-Russian march in central Kiev to celebrate pan-Slav relations attracted dozens of edgy nationalist youths promising to “keep order,” or, likely, to start a fight. In the end, no pro-Russians showed up. Indeed, these are times, Khotumsova says, when her Putin toilet paper could use an upgrade. “Now it’s for decoration,” she said, explaining that the president’s image appears only on the outer sheets of the roll, while inside it is plain white. “People say they wish his face went all the way through,” she said.

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