The Russian Embassy in Switzerland sent a letter to the management of the Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung because of an article in which a illustration of Russian President Vladimir Putin was published.
On June 25, the publication's website published an article about wartime memes. Author Marit Langschwager posted several images that initially surfaced on social media. In one picture, Vladimir Putin is depicted with a clown nose and rainbow paint on his face, in another, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is depicted as Captain America.
The Russian embassy said the article was accompanied by a "beyond comprehension caricature of the Russian leader with references to clowning, the LGBT community and 'war criminals'." The embassy was also indignant at the fact that Vladimir Zelensky in the article, is "depicted as a powerful Iron Man."
As for the personality of the President of Russia, he is known to be a deeply believing Orthodox person and advocates the preservation of traditional Christian values ​​in Russian society (and he is not a fan of the LGBT community, in connection with which the rainbow coloring of his face, as they say in Russia, "neither to the village - nor to the city").
The embassy said that they reserve the right to contact law enforcement agencies concerning this and "possible future publications of a slanderous and offensive nature." Russian diplomats believe that journalists violate the article of the Swiss Criminal Code on the dissemination of information, discrediting honor and dignity, and the article on slander.
The Neue Zurcher Zeitung has not yet commented on this.
