THE president of Russia holds a black belt in judo, once worked for the K.G.B. and has been known, when angered, to make pointed allusions to killing enemies in their outhouses and telling journalists to undergo a bris by a surgeon with lousy aim. Superman wouldn't tug on this guy's cape.

So what was Novaya Gazeta thinking when it compared Vladimir V. Putin to Dobby the House-Elf?

The decidedly liberal Moscow daily reported on Jan. 20 that a major Moscow law firm was preparing to sue Warner Brothers, the factory that churns out the Harry Potter movies, for adapting Mr. Putin's likeness to Dobby, a computer-generated elf in its latest release, ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.''

For those who haven't seen the film, Dobby appears near the start to warn young Harry against returning to Hogwarts. He is a kindhearted fellow who gains his freedom from evil masters, a not-unflattering story line that could well fit Mr. Putin, depending on one's view of the K.G.B.

But Dobby is also a wizened midget with bulging green eyeballs and floppy ears who wears a pillowcase. Mr. Putin is perhaps slightly shortish as world leaders go, but wizened he is not. He is a pretty snappy dresser, too.