Vitaly Borodin, a pro-Kremlin activist who methodically files police reports against supposed enemies of the state, has taken on perhaps his biggest adversary to date: Jolly Ole St. Nick. In a recent letter to Russia’s Prosecutor General, Borodin reportedly argued that Santa Claus should be designated as a “foreign agent” due to his popularity in “unfriendly” countries, which allegedly use the Christmas icon to “undermine traditional values.” However, unlike Western critics of Santa, Borodin is concerned not for Jesus but for Father Frost, the favorite mythological figure of Russians’ New Year’s holiday.
Claiming that trademarks on depictions of Santa Claus are worth $1.6 trillion, Borodin warned that there is “a high probability that foreign companies might fund the image of Santa in Russia to undermine traditional Russian values.”
Vitaly Borodin is notorious for filing politically motivated police reports against journalists and popular entertainers, including pop star Alla Pugacheva, actor Danila Kozlovsky, and satirical songwriter Semyon Slepakov.
