Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday visited a hospital in Kommunarka, where Moscow’s coronavirus quarantine center is located. Photos of Putin in a bright yellow hazmat suit sparked a wave of jokes on the Internet.
What exactly made users laugh? The Kremlin press pool released a video of Putin changing into a yellow protective suit and putting a respirator on his head. Later, footage was released of him moving quickly through the hospital corridors and communicating with one of the patients. “How are you feeling?” the president asked the patient. “Wonderful, thank you,” he replied.
Earlier, Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, asked a woman in a white robe to film the visit on her smartphone and, after sending the recording, to destroy the smartphone: “Go away, film it completely. Don’t be shy at all. Send it via Telegram, there’s only one contact, it’s written “Dima”. But then keep the phone and destroy it.”
The Russia 24 television channel has been showing footage of Putin in the infectious diseases department of a hospital all day. People have also noticed them on the Internet, and this has become the subject of jokes. People began to compare Putin with characters from cartoons (for example, “Minions”) and the protagonist of the TV series “Breaking Bad”. He joked and the account “Peskov’s mustache”, which has the surname of the presidential press secretary in its name. For some reason, supporters of Alexei Navalny compared the color of his jumpsuit to a duck, which once became a symbol of protest in Russian cities. “Putin decided to personally destroy the coronavirus. The telegram channel ‘Nebogena’ joked: ‘Take a test shot.'”
There have been jokes about the vote on constitutional amendments, which Putin scheduled for April 22 by decree. It has not yet been canceled. Other pranksters have made associations with the President’s New Year’s address.
Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, when asked by the publication “Podem” why the president was wearing a yellow hazmat suit, replied, “It was issued. It doesn’t mean anything.” This is the model TyChem 2000C of the American company DuPont: such a suit can be bought for 1800 rubles, reported the publication “Open Media”. The suit’s description states that it is used “when working with aqueous solutions of chemicals, preparing and mixing paints, cleaning tanks, and working with petrochemical products.”