A Russian actor got up at 4:30 a.m. to tell Putin on Instagram: ‘You are not my president.’ Hours later, after his mother read him the comments, he said, actually, he loves the government.

A twenty-six-year-old Russian actor woke at four-thirty in the morning on July twenty-eighth with something to say. Alexei Yarmushchik, per Meduza, posted a video directly addressing Vladimir Putin: 'You are not my president.' He also declared that Crimea was 'not ours'—a generational view at odds with official Russian policy. The message resonated widely, and the video went viral with over a million views and thirty thousand likes. But just hours later, after his mother read him supportive comments, Yarmushchik posted again—this time saying he 'loves the government' and respects Putin. When pressed later, he downplayed the original video as a 'dumb and stupid' attempt to break out of his generational information bubble. He told Russian media the outburst was partly driven by anxiety: rumors of a new mobilization and fears that borders might close, potentially trapping him in Russia.

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