Скачать или смотреть Putin’s Story | Kukly NTV 2000, Russia’s Banned Puppet Satire

In February 2000, Russian TV aired an episode of Kukly (“Dolls”) so controversial it was banned. Often called the Russian equivalent of Spitting Image, the satirical puppet show targeted the country’s new political establishment — with Vladimir Putin as its reluctant star.

This episode retold the story of acting President Putin through satire, adapting Little Zaches (1819) by German writer Ernst Hoffmann. In the tale, the ugly child Zaches is magically seen as beautiful, with his flaws blamed on others and others’ virtues credited to him. The Kukly writers used Zaches to parody Putin, while casting the fairy behind his powers as Boris Berezovsky, the powerful oligarch and TV tycoon.

Putin’s Story | The Puppet Show Banned in Russia
Kukly NTV — February 2000