President Putin might want to watch out! A colored revolution may be brewing in his own backyard, as the protest babes advance on him. This babe, who represents the most decadent kind of freedom (my favorite kind), is setting up a youth group as an alternative to the many pro-government ones set up over the past few years. Serious threat or publicity play? You decide. All I know is if I were a male Russian teenager, I’d be rushing to join this club.

RUSSIA’S most famous party girl has formed a political youth movement that could undermine one of her closest friends: the President, Vladimir Putin.

Until now she has avoided upsetting the Kremlin. Her late father, Anatoly Sobchak, who was mayor of St Petersburg, was Mr Putin’s mentor and close friend. The only time the Russian President has been seen crying in public was at Mr Sobchak’s funeral in 2000.

So there was surprise last week when Ms Sobchak appeared to set herself up as a rival to Mr Putin’s administration with the creation of a youth movement called All Are Free.

At its launch Ms Sobchak was vague about the movement’s intentions, saying only that she planned to teach young Russians “how to be free”.

However, she has since grown more strident, saying she plans to take on youth movements like Nashi (Our Boys) and its predecessor, Walking Together, created by the Kremlin to counter any attempt to re-create the Orange Revolution.

“All that is happening today makes me awfully sad,” she said.

But Ms Sobchak, who has a degree in political science and international relations, has trouble getting herself taken seriously. She has been compared with the American heiress Paris Hilton: famous for her family name and for being seen at the right parties.

A political analyst, Boris Makarenko, dismissed her foray into politics as self-promotion. “I don’t think the Kremlin is unduly concerned,” he said. “Their attitude is: ‘If the girl wants this toy, let her play with it.”‘

I doubt the Kremlin, or anyone else for that matter, will take this seriously. I doubt she is even taking it that seriously. The Moscow Times certainly had a field day with this.

What this does illustrate is the power of pop culture and celebrity. It is many times stronger in Russia than in the United States, with state-controlled television being the only source of information for many people. While few take her seriously, Ksenia Sobchak’s star power gets her a lot of publicity for both herself and now her new youth group. It was television that made Putin, after all. To underestimate it now in the face of an opponent that uses it so well could be a mistake on his part, if in fact she is determined and serious. You never know what one person can do.

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Alright, enough seriousness… let’s get to the pictures!

Publius Pundit… No longer a family blog!