A hairline crack has appeared in the authoritarian facade of Vladimir Putin's Russia. The would-be-dictator-for-life — he recently commanded his sockpuppet, Dmitry Medvedev, to stand down from the next election so that he could run unopposed for another term as president — was booed while attending an important political function: a mixed martial arts match that he was tapped to introduce.

To protect the thin-skinned action-hero, subsequent airings of the event edited out the boos, a fact that has been widely noted and commented upon.

And that is where the story gets really interesting because some Russians, outraged at what they saw as a suggestion that they had shown disrespect to an honourable loser, have bombarded Monson's Facebook Wall with supportive messages, many of them in English, and many of them attacking Vladimir Putin. Denis Kir from Mezhdurechensk wrote: "You are great! Putin is just stupid and we booed Putin." Tanya Kuu from Kolomna added: "People in Russia don't respect Putin's mode now." Artem Dzyuba from Moscow said: "It's clearly heard the crowd was outraged by the prime minister. "His corrupted government, muppet courts, punishers in police clothes, pocket electoral commissions and people of his clan at all the most important and profitable chairs – it all drives us crazy!" Paul Protsenko, a student in Yaroslavl, declared that the 21st of November had been the "greatest date for our country because Putin the first time was whistled and shamed!", adding "Russia must be free".

Russian backlash over Putin booing denial