Filmed at Putin’s speech
Russian politician protests with noodles – and has to pay
03/16/2023, 8:50 p.m
With an ironic gesture, a regional politician from southern Russia shows his dissatisfaction with Putin’s policies. His appearance with spaghetti got him into trouble: the Kremlin chief’s loyalists want to send him to the front. Now a court sentenced him to a fine.
A regional politician in Russia has been fined for a satirical protest with spaghetti during a speech by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. The deputy of the regional parliament in the Volga region of Samara, Mikhail Abdalkin, had to pay the equivalent of 1,830 euros, the Internet portal “Protokol.Samara” reported. A fine of up to 25,000 euros would have been possible. According to the court, the man had discredited the Russian army with his protest.
The case drew national attention. Abdalkin watched Putin’s State of the Union address on TV shortly before the anniversary of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. He hung noodles over his ears. In Russian there is the expression “hanging noodles over the ears”, which means something like: to be lied to or deceived. Abdalkin then published a video of it on YouTube, in which he ironically expressed his “full support” for the “great performance”.
In the speech, Putin spoke primarily about the Ukraine war, defended the invasion and once again accused the West of “starting the war.” While Abdalkin’s satirical protest was celebrated online, he quickly encountered criticism from politicians. The Communist Party, which is now considered loyal to the Kremlin and for which he sits in parliament, distanced itself from the action. The prominent director Nikita Mikhalkov, close to Putin, demanded on state television that Abdalkin be sent to the front.
The monitoring group OVD-Info quoted Abdalkin as saying that it was an ironic gesture to express his dissatisfaction with “the president’s silence on domestic political problems”.