An effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama was discovered hanging from a bridge Monday in the Ural Mountains region of Perm, its head covered by an executioner's hood, news reports said.
Photos of the Obama effigy appeared on a page on a VKontakte social media account called Perm Active. The figure, clad in a dress shirt and slacks, was seen dangling from a local bridge with a noose around its neck as cars sped by below.
“One dead Obama is worth 7,650 living Ukrainians,” read a sign hanging from the figure's neck, referencing the conflict in eastern Ukraine that by May had claimed the lives of nearly 7,000 people, according to UN estimates.
“I almost had a stroke when I passed under the arch and lifted my eyes upwards. I thought there was really someone hanging there,” wrote one social media user on the VKontakte page featuring the photographs.
The doll, which was found dangling from a bridge near the State National Research University in Perm, has since been removed and police are looking into the matter, the Interfax news agency reported Monday.
This was not the first time the U.S. president has been turned into an effigy by Russians looking to make a political statement. In February an Obama mannequin was set ablaze at a bonfire in the Kaliningrad region to mark the start of Lent, local news site Klops.ru reported.
But it's not just Russia where political leaders are seen as fair game for dark humor. Last October revelers in the English town of Lewes created two effigies of Russian President Vladimir Putin at celebrations marking Bonfire Night.
The first doll featured Putin straddling downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, and the second showed him wearing a bright green mankini, the Telegraph reported at the time.
Contact the author at j.monaghan@imedia.ru
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