Twelve scantily clad women oozing praise for Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin versus six stern-looking beauties demanding human rights — who will win Russia’s battle of the calendars?
A day after 12 journalism students at Russia’s most prestigious university released a racy calendar in honor of Putin’s 58th birthday, six of their colleagues hit back with their own version, pointing to the murders and curbs on freedom under Putin.
“Who killed Anna Politkovskaya?” asks Yekaterina Ulianova, posing, like all the young women, in a somber black outfit with yellow tape sealing her mouth shut.
Politkovskaya, a journalist who was one of the Kremlin’s toughest critics, was shot dead on Putin’s birthday four years ago on Oct. 7.
The students in both calendars study at Moscow State University’s journalism faculty, which has produced some of Russia’s finest journalists, including Politkovskaya.
That reputation was called into question on Wednesday, when 12 of its students appeared in a calendar, titled “Vladimir Vladimirovich, We Love You! Happy Birthday, Mr Putin!”
Dressed in lacy lingerie, each young woman had a word bubble stretching from her mouth with phrases like “Can I be your co-pilot?” and “How about a third go?” referring to one of the prime minister’s manly stunts and the possibility he may return for a third term as president.
“When I first saw the calendar, I was absolutely shocked,” said Liz Menschikova, one of the opposition calendar’s co-producers. “People were calling girls from the journalism faculty ‘sluts.’ I knew we had to do something.”
Other women in her calendar say: “When will Khodorkovsky be freed?” referring to the jailed former CEO of Yukos oil company, and “When will the next terrorist attack be?”
Some students Menschikova approached to take part in the calendar declined, saying they feared the repercussions, she said.
“Girls from the journalism faculty are just being sold to the Kremlin and that’s not right,” Menschikova said. “They teach us to tell the truth and that’s what we’re doing here.”
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said he was unaware of the second calendar.
As for the first, Peskov said: “I hope these girls study as well as they look.”
About 50,000 copies of the first calendar have been printed and are for sale at Moscow branches of French supermarket chain Auchan. The opposition calendar, for now, is only available online.
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