The Moscow authorities have removed several posters with the image of Russian president Dmitry Medvedev as Captain America, an American comic-book character, which were hung around the central Moscow streets on the 26th of July by an unknown person.

      

      Entitled "Captain Russia: The First Ruler", the pictures showed Medvedev in a leather suit with a US stars-and-stripes flag on his chest holding an iPad 2. The image clearly hinted at the Hollywood blockbuster Captain America: The First Avenger, released at the end of July.

      

       According to the poster's signature, Captain Russia was a sequel to the earlier “film” involving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. In July, posters showing a James Bond-esque image of Putin appeared on several streets in central Moscow. The fake film’s tagline was “VV will cover", where “VV” meant the Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin’s first name and patronymic.

      

      Both posters are signed by an anonymous artist who has previously posted pictures of Medvedev and Putin in tennis uniform. The author said he didn't plan to associate the posters either with the forthcoming presidential election, or with the Captain America film.

      

      “I want to grab the attention of those bored people who run along Moscow streets never noticing what is happening around them,” the artist said in an interview to Afisha magazine. “I want to make those people laugh, to make the authorities angry, and to break down the stereotypes.”

      

      The Kremlin has not declined to comment on the issue, but Vladimir Yakovlev, the Moscow Media and Advertisement Department's spokesman, considered these posters as "rowdy provocation" and advised the legal owners of the bilboards to go to the law.

Sources: Lenta.ru Russia Today The Moscow News