Crimea's prosecutor general, Natalya Poklonskaya, has become an Internet sensation after appearing at a news conference earlier this month.
"Is this the real reason Putin wants Crimea?" the New York Daily News tabloid asked, referring to glamorous photos of Poklonskaya in a "little black dress and bright red heels" that surfaced on the Internet after the news conference.
In Japan, Poklonskaya, 33, has inspired a series of anime drawings featuring her likeness, and a recording of her fielding journalists' questions has already been viewed more than 600,000 times on a Japanese YouTube channel.
Poklonskaya speaking at a news conference earlier this month. (YouTube / You Tubi News)
Poklonskaya, dubbed a "legal eagle" by the Daily News, has not yet commented on her newfound Internet fame.
Before being appointed Crimea's prosecutor general, Poklonskaya served as a senior official in the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office in both Kiev and Simferopol, Rossiskaya Gazeta reported.
She was harshly critical of the Maidan street protest movement and described the ousting of former-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych as an "anti-constitutional coup," the BBC reported.
And anime version of Natalia Poklonskaya LOL pic.twitter.com/d0gFOGtsgq
— MasterBuilder Fareez (@fareezakmal) 21 Март 2014
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