Happy Birthday, Mr. Putin!
Encyclopedia
Happy Birthday, Mr. Putin! is an English title of the erotic calendar, released by the Russian publishing house "Fakultet" for the 58th birthday of Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...

 on October 7, 2010. The calendar features twelve semi-nude female students of journalism faculty at the Moscow State University
Moscow State University
Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...

 (MSU), each for every month, with a short message. The print run consisted of 50,000 copies.

The calendar caused a stir in the international media. In a less than one day the images from the calendar have been reposted from its original web source by several thousands Russian users of LiveJournal
LiveJournal
LiveJournal is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. LiveJournal is also the name of the free and open source server software that was designed to run the LiveJournal virtual community....

. MSU journalism student Yelena Sadikova (unrelated to calendar) died of acute myeloid leukemia
Acute myeloid leukemia
Acute myeloid leukemia , also known as acute myelogenous leukemia, is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal white blood cells that accumulate in the bone marrow and interfere with the production of normal blood cells. AML is the most common acute...

 after refusing to accept the money from calendar's sales, needed for her treatment. A day after the calendar's release six other students of the same university made an internet version, critical of Putin, which received an online support. The calendar was followed by lampoon
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

 version with the heads of Russian politicians imposed on original female bodies. Other versions include that dedicated to the end of Valentina Matviyenko
Valentina Matviyenko
Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko , born 7 April 1949 in the Ukrainian SSR), is currently the highest-ranking female politician in Russia, the former governor of Saint Petersburg and the current Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation...

's gubernatorial tenure. A calendar, inspired by the original version, was also made for the Mayor of Omsk
Omsk
-History:The wooden fort of Omsk was erected in 1716 to protect the expanding Russian frontier along the Ishim and the Irtysh rivers against the Kyrgyz nomads of the Steppes...

.

Original calendar

The student girls for the calendar were selected via social network
Social network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...

 by one of the producers. The shootings lasted for three days and from over 10,000 shots thirteen were chosen. The girls are dressed in lacy lingerie and each page contains a speech bubble with the girl's name. The images were originally published on the LiveJournal
LiveJournal
LiveJournal is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. LiveJournal is also the name of the free and open source server software that was designed to run the LiveJournal virtual community....

 page of Kristina Potupchik, a press-secretary of Russian youth movement Nashi. The movement, however, denied any connection with the calendar. According to calendar's producer Vladimir Tabak, the publishing house, which released the calendar, was established by the MSU students, who have never been the members of political youth organizations.

Each speech bubble text begins with "Vladimir Vladimirovich..." The messages are the following, starting from January: "Every needs a man like you", ""How about a third go?" (referring to the possibility that Putin may run for a third presidential term), "“The forest fires have been put out, but I'm still burning!", "You are the best!", "I love you!", "Give me a ride on Kalina
Lada Kalina
The Lada Kalina is a supermini produced by the Russian automaker AvtoVAZ and sold under the Lada brand. It began production in November 2004 as the 2004 year model in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus, although dealership availability for foreign markets started only in September 2005.The...

!", "Would you take me as a co-pilot?", "If not you, who?", "You only get better with the years", "You are my Premier", "I don't need rynda, I need you" (referring to Putin's reply to an internet user's request, known as Putin's rynda
Putin's rynda
Putin's rynda is an internet meme, which refers to the LiveJournal's user's post, picked by the radio station Echo of Moscow and forwarded to the Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin...

) and "I want to congratulate you personally. Call 8-925-159-17-28".

The revenue from calendar's sales was planned to go for charity.

Alternative version

The alternative oppositional version features female students dressed in black and with taped mouths in protest. The pages accomodate two monthes and bear critical questions. According to one of the students, Margarita Zhuravlyova, they "didn't have to think long to come up with questions; people ask these questions in their daily lives, at home, at work, in the streets and on public transportation". The alternative version was advertised through LiveJournal
LiveJournal
LiveJournal is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. LiveJournal is also the name of the free and open source server software that was designed to run the LiveJournal virtual community....

 and Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...

. The alternative version features the following questions: "When will they free Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky is a Russian prisoner, considered by some - such as Amnesty International - to have been imprisoned for political reasons, jailed until 2016 and a former Russian oligarch and businessman...

?", "OK with fools, but what about roads?" (referring to Russian saying "There are two troubles in Russia: the fools and the roads"), "How inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...

 will affect the bribes?", "Freedom of assembly
Freedom of assembly
Freedom of assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests...

 always and everywhere?", "Who killed Anna Politkovskaya
Anna Politkovskaya
Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya was a Russian journalist, author, and human rights activist known for her opposition to the Chechen conflict and then-President of Russia Vladimir Putin...

?" and "When the next terrorist incident occurs"?

Reactions

The Moscow State University campus became divided into those supporting the alternative version and the other supporting the original calendar. The head of MSU journalism faculty Yelena Vartanova commented: "I think the calendar is quite frivolous but I don’t see anything criminal in it. [...] It's a matter for their own conscience".

Putin's attitude was reportedly "indifferent"; according to Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, "all these questions have a right to exist and people have a right to ask them". Peskov also noted that "this situation tells us about natural pluralism of opinions in our society and that it is important to have an active position in life, and such things should be encouraged unless they interfere with studies".
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