Ingrida Šimonytė, the prime minister of Lithuania, has no earthly reason to emulate Russian President Vladimir Putin — but an embarrassing choice of campaign slogan for upcoming presidential elections has put her on the back foot.
The Lithuanian leader’s pitch to voters — “Strong President, Strong Country” — mirrors Putin’s boast of “Strong President, Strong Russia” from his 2018 presidential campaign, which featured a speech to parliament in which he played a CGI video depicting advanced Russian weapons bombing Florida.
Šimonytė on Sunday denied stealing Putin’s thunder, maintaining bravely that “I react very calmly to this criticism,” and reminding reporters that “it is not slogans that win elections, but candidates.”
