A propaganda video intended to show Turkmenistan’s president as a strong leader who knows his weapons instead became the butt of a global joke.

When the repressive regime exalted its president this week with footage portraying him as a military man of action, an exiled opposition publication created a new video by splicing in clips of Arnold Schwarzenegger suiting up in the 1985 action movie “Commando.”

The publication’s parody video struck a nerve online, drawing widespread attention to the president, a former dentist named Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov (pronounced gur-BAHN-goo-lee bair-dee-mukh-ha-MAY-doff).

The official video showed Mr. Berdymukhammedov firing a rifle, throwing knives and calling in an airstrike. “The head of the government demonstrated his precise aim, itself a testament to his high level of military training,” the government explained in a statement.