Hollywood star Mickey Rourke joined the crowd at Moscow's GUM department store on Monday as he lined up to buy a T-shirt of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Surrounded by reporters, Rourke picked out a gray specimen that featured Putin wearing a sailor's cap and surrounded by flowers, news agency Interfax reported. The shirts bearing the Russian leader's likeness went on sale at midday at the prestigious GUM store, located just off the capital's Red Square.
While tensions between the U.S. and Russia have reached one of their lowest ebbs in recent history, Rourke — an American leading man and former boxer — told Interfax he would happily wear the shirt in the U.S, saying he liked the Russian president.
"No one can tell me what to wear," Interfax cited the star as saying.
The T-shirts, which come in an array of colors and depict different images of Putin, first went on sale at GUM on June 11, a day before the Russian Unity Day national holiday.
Designers Anna Yevfremova and Ivan Yershov told the ITAR-Tass news agency that the collection was inspired by Russia's success at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, the reunification of Crimea with Russia, and the triumph of the national team in the world ice-hockey championship.
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