These Noodles Could Be 15-Minute Deadly Cities: This Wacky New Conspiracy Story Hits the Internet Now

A Russian regional politician faces the fallout from a mock and protest action during Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin’s speech to the nation.

Following Tuesday’s speech, Communist MP Mikhail Abdalkin from the Samara region posted a video on YouTube showing him sitting at his computer listening to Putin with spaghetti on his ears. In Russian there is an expression “hanging noodles on the ears”, which means something like being lied to.

Abdalkin also posted the 30-second clip on the Russian social media platform Vkontakte – writing there, with a touch of irony, of course: “Full support, totally agree, great performance.” In an interview, a spokesman for the Communist Party called Abdalkin’s action “stupid” and announced that the incident would be handled within the party.

The Russian Communist Party is even considered loyal to the Kremlin. For example, party leader Gennady Zyuganov praised the “determination” of Putin’s speech. Especially in the regions of the largest country in the world by area, politicians who do not belong to the Kremlin United Russia party occasionally make critical remarks. Samara is located about 1000 kilometers southeast of Moscow.

Putin held his state of the nation just before the first anniversary of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. During the nearly two-hour performance, the 70-year-old Kremlin chief defended the invasion he had ordered, claiming that the West had “started the war”. Internationally – but also by the Russian opposition – large parts of the speech were criticized as pure propaganda.

Accordingly, Abdalkin’s pasta satire was well received by some Internet users: much more people like this are needed for change in Russia, one man wrote in the YouTube comment. (aeg/sda/dpa)