Moscow Residents Use Piles of Snow to Troll Putin

City workers weren't clearing snow, so residents painted name of opposition leader on the piles
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 16, 2018 7:53 AM CST
Moscow Residents Use Piles of Snow to Troll Putin
A snow-covered Red Square after a snowstorm in Moscow on Feb. 6, 2018.   (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

It's been a particularly brutal winter in Moscow, complete with record-breaking amounts of snow, and municipal workers haven't exactly been on top of removing the piles of white stuff. So city residents had to get creative—and political—in their efforts to clear the streets, per the BBC: They spray-painted the name of opposition leader and Putin basher Alexei Navalny onto the snow. The ploy has appeared to somewhat work, with some saying city workers came out "within hours" to deal with the graffitied snow.

The BBC notes not all the snow was cleared—in some cases, the workers just moved the snow around to cover up or erase Navalny's name. Still, with photos being spread on social media and some of the snow taken away, organizers view their efforts as a success. "Now everyone in the country and beyond knows that the surname 'Navalny' is not just a surname, but a curse that forces people to work," a local residents group wrote on its Facebook page. In a blog post, Navalny says he found the wintry protest to be "really funny." (Moscow just experienced its "darkest December" ever.)

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