The well-known French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo has published a cartoon about the Russian presidential race, in which the current President Vladimir Putin won by gathering 76 percent of the vote. Interestingly, the cartoon came out on March 14, i.e., a few days before the elections. The author depicted three characters: Putin as a puppeteer, presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak as a puppet that says “My name is Ksenia Sobchak, I am an anti-Putin candidate in the presidential elections,” and the opposition politician Alexei Navalny, blindfolded and with his hands bound, who says: “I am Alexei Navalny, a single democrat. Do not vote.” Tellingly, world leaders were not exactly rushing to congratulate Putin on the victory, and US President Donald Trump expressed the words of congratulation only the other day, contrary to his advisors’ warnings. In response, US Senator John McCain said: “An American president does not lead the free world by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections.” Likewise, ex-US ambassador to Ukraine, John Herbst, explained the absence of congratulations to Putin from Western leaders by the fact that “this election was fake.” Besides, a number of politicians from other countries announced that they did not recognize the Russian elections held in the annexed Crimea.
