'Putin Is A Crab' And Other Online Mockery Being Tracked By Russia's Federal Media Regulator

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s secretive nature has spawned many stories about him, speculating on his mental health and fitness for leadership.

To track the articles written about him, Russia’s federal media regulator – Roskomnadzor has a secret team which alerts Putin’s staff if there have been any online mentions of the president as a “bald dwarf,” “Hitler wannabe,” or a "thief," Daily Beast reported, citing independent news outlet iStories.

The details came to light after Belarusian hackers breached an internal network of Roskomnadzor and accessed a large volume of data from a division regulating the media. The data was reportedly shared with Russian journalists, who in turn released findings from their investigations on the matter.

The disclosures also showed that Roskomnadzor staffers compile reports on all negative publications about Putin and apprise the president’s administration and the Russian security services about critics, the report said.

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Staffers reportedly sign on at 8:30 every morning to scan through all online chatter that could pose a threat to Putin. This even included memes that may damage his macho image. The report cited an example of Putin’s face superimposed on the body of a crab, or the declaration “Putin is a crab.”

Federal officials also closely monitored reports on Putin’s health, including those that said the president was in a critical condition or had dementia. The leak also showed that Russia’s search engine leader Yandex censoring online content that does not paint Putin in good light.

The goal of monitoring and censoring is to quash any unrest, as once a leader falls out of favor with his people, the security forces may try to get rid of him, the report said, citing one of Putin’s former speechwriters.

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