As a group of diehard Russian nationalists sipped champagne a stone’s throw away from the Kremlin on Friday, US president-elect Donald Trump appeared on screen in a Superman costume as part of a cartoon rap video celebrating his inauguration.
“Nobody thought this would happen, but it did,” said Andrei Afanasiev, a host on the ultraconservative Russian Orthodox channel Tsargrad TV, said as the several dozen Russians gathered in a hip co-working space — many with the long, flowing beards of devout believers — applauded.
Mr Trump’s victory in the US presidential election has been met with glee among diehard supporters of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. During the campaign, he broke with bipartisan political convention to praise Mr Putin repeatedly, suggested lifting US sanctions over Russia’s role in the Ukraine conflict, and questioned the role of NATO — issues at the top of the Kremlin’s wishlist.