‘Don’t make him pay!’: Perm Polytech’s viral Putin prank

Perm Polytechnic University shared a video claiming to show Vladimir Putin visiting the campus, but it turned out to be a humorous prank. The clip is presented, and the joke is explained in detail.

Perm Polytechnic University (PNIUP) embraced a new TikTok trend where users generate photos and videos with Vladimir Putin, such as adding his image to pictures of their homes. They then send these realistic media to relatives and friends, and later compile reaction videos from screenshots.

In the video, colleagues prank the head of the press service of PNIUP, Alina Kolesnik. According to the plot, a press service employee distracts Alina from an important meeting and writes that an emergency has occurred. When she asks what happened, he says: «Putin has arrived». Alina Kolesnik is shocked. She suggests taking the president to the rector’s office, to which her colleague replies: the university leadership is currently on a business trip in Kogalym, Russia (where a branch of PNIUP is located — Ed.).

The head of the press service cannot reach her subordinate, and he writes that Vladimir Putin has already been taken to the cafeteria and sends a confirming photo.

— «Answer the phone, I’m on my way!» — Alina exclaims indignantly.

— «It’s awkward to talk on the phone in front of the president,» — her colleague objects and sends a photo where Putin is already standing with a plate of food on a tray.

— «Don’t make him pay! I’ll come myself and pay!» — the head of the press service replies.

— «Too late,» — they write back to her.

— «I’m speechless!» — Alina gets angry.

— «I can’t talk. We’re having lunch,» — her colleague informs her.

— «Who is ‘we’?» — Alina is surprised.

— «My colleagues and I, we’re also having lunch,» — the subordinate writes.

In response, they send Alina Kolesnik a photo of the Russian president taken in the cafeteria. In it, Vladimir Putin has given a thumbs up approvingly. The interlocutor reports: «Vladimir Vladimirovich liked everything. He said that everything is very tasty».

Alina’s calls and requests to wait for her continue to be ignored. The colleague says that Putin wanted to see the educational process and entered a classroom where only three people are sitting. This did not stop the president: he wanted to give a lecture.

Then the president «asked to show him the laboratories» of the university, and the employees fulfilled this request as well. Alina Kolesnik was informed that Putin praised the scientists of PNIUP. The head of the press service again promised that she would come soon, to which she was told: the president is in a hurry and is constantly calling someone.

«I hope he’s not complaining about us!» — Alina worries. But the colleague calms her, saying that Putin liked everything. Alina Kolesnik asks where the press service employees and the president are now. She is told: Vladimir Putin needs to leave, but he sent greetings to the university community. The message about this was accompanied by a photo of the head of state against the background of the main building of Polytech. «You’re in trouble!» — Alina gets angry, and the video ends.

In the caption to the video, the press service of PNIUP wonders how subscribers would react upon hearing such news. Commentators note that the employees made a funny video.

Earlier we reported that a video with a Perm lookalike of US President Donald Trump went viral online — an elderly grandmother was filmed at a bus stop.