“We Await You, Merry Gnome!”
Or so said a poster advertising a children’s play in the city of Omsk, before, that is, it was removed by officials who feared it may offend the country’s vertically challenged president, Dmitry Medvedev. Estimated to stand somewhere between a mere 5’2” and 5’4″, he’s been on the receiving end of a number of uncomplimentary jibes both at home and abroad about his stature (or lack of), with some commentators suggesting he suffers from a touch of Napoleon Complex.
Although there remains some denial debate over why exactly that particular advert was removed, the bid by local bureaucrats to turn the Siberian city into some sort of Potemkin Village ahead of Medvedev’s recent visit shows at least that such tradition is alive and well in Russia. Not only were footpaths given a fresh layer of clean snow imported from outside the city, but pedestrians were expected, despite the freezing weather conditions, to stand in it for the best part of an hour whilst they waited for the president’s convoy to pass.
In a cringe worthy attempt to boot lick their official leader, three officials arranged for the face of the country’s prime minister, Vladimir Putin, who’s usually seen as the real man in charge of Russia, to be removed from a billboard photograph in which he appeared next to Medvedev. They paid for it with their jobs, and Vlad’s face was soon restored. Extraordinary . . . .
