• Source:JND
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Putin news: As Russian President Vladimir Putin’s high-profile visit to India draws global attention, a decades-old pop-culture curiosity is resurfacing online about whether Boney M’s 1978 disco hit Ra Ra Rasputin has anything to do with Russia’s most powerful man today. The answer, in simple terms, is no. But a small historical footnote, revived repeatedly on social media, keeps the speculation alive.

Social Media Memes Fuel

Over the years, viral edits on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube have synced Putin’s public appearances to Boney M’s track, turning the stern-faced Russian leader into a “disco meme”. Hashtags like #Rasputin and #Putin regularly push these edits into trending lists, especially during major geopolitical events.

Short clips, Putin walking to the beat, riding horseback, or greeting world leaders have accumulated millions of views. Accounts dedicated to “Ras-Putin” humour combine the song’s dramatic lyrics about poison, bullets, and survival with references to Putin’s strongman image, especially after the start of the Russia–Ukraine conflict in 2022.

What The Song Is Really About

The original track by Boney M narrates the life of Grigori Rasputin, the Siberian mystic who gained unusual influence over Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra in the early 1900s. Known for his preaching, healing claims, and close access to the royal family, Rasputin’s presence in the palace triggered widespread resentment among nobles.

The song follows his dramatic assassination in 1916, where conspirators poisoned him, shot hi,m and dumped him into the Neva River — an episode famously described in Prince Felix Yusupov’s memoirs. Fact and folklore are blended into the lyrics, which portray Rasputin as “Russia’s greatest love machine” and a figure both feared and adored.

Curious Putin Family Connection

There is no bloodline link between Vladimir Putin and Grigori Rasputin. The only point of contact is a much-cited anecdote involving Putin’s grandfather, Spiridon Putin. Spiridon, a respected chef in early 20th-century St. Petersburg, briefly cooked at the Hotel Astoria, where Rasputin was known to dine. According to Putin’s own recollection, Rasputin once tipped Spiridon a gold ruble. Spiridon later served as a personal chef to Lenin, Lenin’s widow Nadezhda Krupskaya, and subsequently Joseph Stalin, a trajectory that gives the Putin family its unique historical proximity to Russian power centres.

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Putin’s rise, however, has nothing to do with mysticism. His formative years were shaped in the KGB, where he trained in counterintelligence and covert operations. In 1985, he was posted to Dresden, East Germany, under the guise of a translator. The fall of the Berlin Wall left a lasting psychological imprint on him. Putin has recalled burning sensitive documents “until the furnace burst” and receiving “no reply” from Moscow as protesters surrounded the KGB residence, an episode that shaped his views on state control and political fragility.

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The viral crossover persists because it blends humour, history, and coincidence, the rhyme in their names, Putin’s reputation for resilience, and the song’s larger-than-life storytelling. In India, the track remains one of the most recognisable disco hits, regularly resurfacing in dance reels and wedding playlists, ensuring that every new meme cycle brings “Ras-Putin” back into conversation.

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