In the video, V. Uspaskich greets his followers in Lithuanian and explains why he chose this language: “Hello everyone, we are in Turkey. I will speak Lithuanian because here (referring to the platform ‘Facebook’ – editor’s note) conversations always take place in Lithuanian.” The politician also boasted that the audience gathered around him at the resort was supposedly “the hundred best general managers in the world” who came to the seminar.
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However, the real star of this broadcast was the well-known Russian model Victoria Bonia sitting next to V. Uspaskich. She actively engaged in the live stream and kept interrupting the politician, commenting in a voice full of amazement on the growing number of viewers – from 5, 26 to finally 74 people joined.
Video:
By the way, V. Bonia herself, who has an army of 13.5 million followers on Instagram, also does not hesitate to share luxurious shots from the same Turkish resort on her account.
Addressed Putin
In April, the popular opinion leader and former TV show participant Victoria Bonia shook the internet with her public appeal to Vladimir Putin. The woman stated that the president does not know many things happening in Russia.
On the social network “Instagram,” Victoria has more than 13 million followers; she became famous in 2006 when she participated in the show “Dom-2.”
In a video published on Monday, she warned the Russian president that a series of emerging problems could become uncontrollable.
“Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, I am doing this for the nation. No one asked me to. I want to say that people are afraid of you, bloggers, artists, governors are afraid. But you are the president of our country, and I think we should not be afraid,” she said in an 18-minute video on Instagram, which gathered 26 million views and more than 1.3 million likes in the first four days.
She listed problems that, according to her, no regional governor would dare to raise directly with V. Putin: floods in Dagestan, oil pollution on the Black Sea coast, livestock slaughter in Siberia, internet connection disruptions, and the pressure of rising prices and taxes on small businesses.
“Do you know what the risk is?” asked the woman living outside Russia. “That people will stop being afraid, will be compressed into a spiral spring, and one day that spiral spring will pop out.”
She also said that one of the things searched for on Google is information on how to escape from Russia. She also criticized the authorities for shutting down many social networks.
Full Victoria’s appeal in English:
“They turned off the internet, took away the cattle. They still need to turn off the electricity, water, everything. And then offer us to die. I don’t understand where this is leading? I suggest everyone rise up and resist,” said Victoria.
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On Thursday, Moscow took an unusual step – publicly acknowledged sharp criticism, claiming that work is underway to solve the problems listed by Victoria.
The opinion leader’s comments were not directly aimed at V. Putin himself or the war in Ukraine, so there was speculation that the intervention might have been coordinated with Moscow to show that public grievances are being heard ahead of parliamentary elections later this year, reported “The Guardian.”
This approach, according to “The Guardian,” fits the usual Kremlin tactic: V. Putin is portrayed as the “good tsar,” kept in the dark by erring officials. This narrative helped the president shift blame for the country’s problems onto subordinates while preserving his personal authority even amid growing dissatisfaction.
However, political analysts said the outburst was most likely not coordinated but rather reflected a spontaneous reaction to widespread dissatisfaction across the country.
“War fatigue is definitely starting to set in,” said Andrey Kolesnikov, a political scientist living in Moscow and author of a recently published book on V. Putin’s ideology. “People are beginning to realize that everything happening is a consequence of the war.”
A. Kolesnikov added that it is becoming increasingly difficult for the authorities to explain the war’s impact on daily life – from economic slowdown to tightening internet restrictions.
Exiled former Putin adviser Abbas Galiamov said that public appeals by Russian celebrities like Victoria could cause even greater public dissatisfaction. “V. Bonia brings essentially a new audience to the opposition camp, which was not there before.
Their dissatisfaction is also growing, there are problems with the internet, prices in stores are rising, the war is ruining them. The state interferes in their private lives,” he said.
According to recent polls by state and independent organizations, V. Putin’s approval and trust ratings have dropped to their lowest level since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, reported “The Guardian.”
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