The Russian embassy in Switzerland has issued a legal threat to a Swiss newspaper after it published a caricature of President Vladimir Putin with a clown nose and rainbow stripes on his face, according to reports. The embassy’s press office, in a letter published on its website Saturday, condemned the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper for publishing the image in a July 9 article about the role of memes and digital messaging in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the Washington Post. The article, titled “Between Superheroes and Villains: The Power of Memes in the Ukraine War,” shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pictured in a Captain America-like costume with Ukrainian colors and symbols, while Putin stands next to him with a nose clown and rainbow. makeup. One of the embassy’s arguments against the image was the relationship between Putin and the LGBTQ community. AFP via Getty Images “If we are talking about clowns, it would be much more appropriate to raise this issue in the context of the recent past of former Ukrainian comedian V. Zelensky,” the embassy said in its letter. The “extremely outraged” embassy also claimed “We believe that freedom of expression is in no way compatible with the freedom to spread insults and fakes,” according to the Swiss news agency Swissinfo. The Swiss newspaper said the photo of Putin was originally posted on Twitter. Russia is also exempt from the rainbow colors associated with Putin because of its apparent connection to the LGBTQ community. The embassy said Putin “is a deeply religious Orthodox person and supports the preservation of traditional Christian values in Russian society (and is clearly not a fan of the LGBT community),” according to the Washington Post.
