Accessibility links

Breaking News

The Daily Vertical: Vladimir Putin, Art Lover (Transcript)


The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL.

So, according to Vladimir Putin, hackers are sort of like artists.

Just as artists wake up in the morning and paint pictures, hackers wake up in the morning and, if they have a patriotic mind-set, they just decide to go break into the e-mail servers of Russia's enemies.

Sure. Sounds logical to me.

But why stop with hackers? Like, what about "little green men"?

They're kind of like artists too, I guess.

Apparently they just wake up in the morning and, if they have a patriotic mind-set, they decide to just go off and, you know, invade Ukraine.

WATCH Today's Daily Vertical

And I guess pro-Kremlin vigilante groups are also sort of like artists.

They wake up in the morning and harass Western diplomats or, if they're feeling particularly creative, they might decide to give opposition leader Aleksei Navalny a different-colored face.

But hey, what are you going to do? Artists, after all, will be artists.

And you have to wonder what on Earth the Putin regime would do without all these artists.

What would the Kremlin do if all these well-financed and very creative souls weren't out there doing the exact things the Kremlin wants done -- but wants done without any fingerprints?

They'd be absolutely lost without Putin's willing artists.

So while Putin may not know much about art, he sure must love his artists.

Keep telling me what you think on The Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page.

RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.

If you are in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and hold a Russian passport or are a stateless person residing permanently in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine, please note that you could face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us.

To find out more, click here.

XS
SM
MD
LG