Ben Laden advertises election campaign ads (Kaliningrad)

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A weekly in Kaliningrad (Russia) has published an uncommon ad offering printing of leaflets at elections to the local legislative body. The newspaper called “Delovoy Baltiysk” (Business Baltiysk) published on its sixth page a portrait of Ben Laden allegedly saying: “Oh, Allah, if I had known that printing leaflets and posters is so cheap, I would have filled up the whole America with them – swear to God!”

The image of terrorist #1 was evidently taken from the Arabian Al-Jazeera TV-channel (the name of the TV-channel in Arabic can be seen in the right upper corner).

It is noteworthy, the address of the printing house is the same like the address of the newspaper’s editorial office. When a REGNUM correspondent pretending to be a client called the printing house, he was told that the image of Ben Laden was considered to a “non-trivial marketing measure” and that there have been no reprimands from controlling authorities.

In his turn, Head of the Baltic Department of the Russian Agency on Preserving Culture Arkady Mikhalchuk expressed his surprise at the publication and asked to send the ad’s image to him by e-mail “for response.”