Now, let's face it, there are a fair few of us - make that probably millions - who figure that Russian elections (I use that term loosely) are rigged up to Putin's eyeballs, but this tactic, created to undermine opposition to the little twerp, has to take the biscuit.
Meet Boris Vishnevsky; all...er, three of him.
The real Boris (that's him wearing the tie) is a senior member of the liberal Yabloko party and he's standing for a seat in St Petersberg next week.
Now, apparently, it's a well-known tactic in Russia: to try and confuse the anti-government electorate into splitting their vote, thus paving the way for some pro-United Russia lackey to take the seat. So it's not unheard of for opposition politicians to find spoiler candidates with identical surnames running against them in order to sow confusion at the polls.
But this, methinks, is taking things to a whole new level. Not only have the two bozos (the ones minus their ties) changed their names, they've altered their appearances as well, as shown in the above district voting poster revealed a few days ago. Result: three nearly indistinguishable Boris Vishnevskys, all balding, greying, and sporting matching goatees.
As the real Vishnevky said in a recent interview:
“This is all done to disorient voters, so that they confuse the fake with the real, and instead of the real Vishnevsky they vote for one of the fakes,”
The fake, or at least newer, Vishnevskys could not immediately be reached for comment.
But it did make me wonder....
What if....?
Just a thought...