MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin has made an appearance in a popular Russian children’s cartoon, delivering a New Year’s message to the nation alongside a talking cat and dog.
Residents of Prostokvashino, the fictional village that gives the show its name, are stunned when the animated version of the Kremlin leader, flanked by Sharik the dog and Matroskin the cat, greets the Russians at the end of the year.
Adults accompanying their children to a Prostokvashino theme park in Moscow were cautiously positive in their reviews.
“Look, I don’t know. I think anything can happen in a cartoon. Why not?” said one woman, Marina.
Another visitor, Oksana Frolkova, said that children know who Putin is and that seeing him in a cartoon is “probably important and interesting for them.” She added that it could also attract interest from viewers outside the country.
Putin’s appearance was followed last year by Yuliana Slashcheva, chairwoman of the board of directors of the Soyuzmultfilm studio, who said Russia was selling its cartoons to former communist and Middle Eastern countries and was seeking to increase its presence in China.
The president’s presence in Prostokvashino would be a form of “soft power” that would help promote Russia and its culture, she said.
