Moscow: A slip of the tongue has earned a Russian newsreader celebrity status on the Internet, after she mistakenly said that blogosphere was debating whether Prime Minister Vladimir Putin should be "buried".
Maria Bukhtuyeva, a newsreader from the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, took the name of Putin instead of Vladimir Lenin, leader of 1917 Russian revolution while debating a proposed referendum by Russian presidential hopeful Mikhail Prokhorov.
Prokhorov had proposed holding a referendum on removal of Vladimir Lenin's body from Red Square Mausoleum where it is preserved since his death in 1924, and bury it.
"Shall we bury Vladimir Putin?" Bukhtuyeva of Krasnoyarsk's TVK television channel said on air last week.
"This topic is now being actively discussed on the Internet," she added.
Her remarks created quite a sensation in Russian blogosphere as thousands of commentators showered her page on social website Vkontakte with various posts.
The recording uploaded on YouTube has half a million views in just three days. The channel on its part aired Bukhtuyeva's clarification on the issue. Bukhtuyeva's colleague had asked her on air how she had managed "to become an Internet star in a matter of 26 seconds". Bukhtuyeva had clarified that it was just a slip of the tongue.
Tens of thousands had taken to the streets in Moscow last month, protesting against Putin's rule and the protesters are set to stage another rally in Moscow on Saturday.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 19:56