Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a lot of enemies among Ukrainians since his dodgy invasion of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March. Now, people of Ukraine can have their vengeance on the Russian president, and do so in the most wicked ways – bite off his head, for instance.
Not a real head, though.
Last week the famous sweet store Lviv Chocolate Factory started selling handmade chocolate figures shaped as Putin. The figures are extremely popular.
The idea and design belongs to Oleh Matsekh, a notorious activist of EuroMaidan Revolution. The figures are only sold in the stores in Lviv so far, but the confectionary network plans to start selling it in its stores in other cities, including Kyiv, soon.
“The idea occurred to me a month ago, after Russia’s annexation of Crimea,” Matsekh told Kyiv Post.
The chocolate Putin comes in two designs. The “big Putin,” sold at Hr 65, wears a crown and holds a bomb behind his back. His smaller version, available at Hr 35, wears a straitjacket and Napoleon’s hat. Both designs can be purchased in brown or white chocolate.
The souvenir became very popular very fast: the Chocolate Factory’s employees barely manage to make them in time, the Factory’s spokesman Roman Kuchkuda told the Kyiv Post.
“He looks so creamy, I want to bite his head off right now,” 59-year-old Maryna Vyznyk from Zaporizhia, a visitor to the Lviv Chocolate Factory store, told the Kyiv Post in Lviv on May 23.
Chocolate Putin’s price tag calls the figure “PTN-PNH” – an abbreviation, lately very popular in Ukraine, that stands for the Ukrainian phraze “Putin, go f*ck yourself.”
Australian tourist Jason Restler, 21, who stopped by the Lviv Chocolate Factory on May 23 specifically to look “straight into the eyes” of chocolate Putin, found himself unable to eat the figure.
“I can’t eat him – he looks at me all the time,” Restler said.
The figure’s designer Matsekh, says the figures don’t mean to inspire people to be aggressive towards the chocolate dictator.
“When you buy it, you can treat it the way you perceive Putin. If you hate him, you can bite his head off. If you love him, you can lick or kiss this piece of chocolate. It’s up to everyone to decide,” he said.
According to Matsekh, a new design of chocolate figures is in development – devil-like Putin.
“I hope to create many more variants – big, small, and middle-sized. My aim is that everyone could pick their favorite size of Putin,” Matsekh said.
Kyiv Post intern Solomiya Zinevych can be reached at [email protected]
