Russian customs officers claim they only wanted to humorously depict the lavish lifestyle that comes with their government jobs in a racy new video, but Prime Minister Vladimir Putin isn't laughing. Reuters is reporting that Putin rebuked the head of his country's customs service offices after a clip which shows a group of normally strait-laced officers going wild in their offices became a viral YouTube smash this week.
Set to a Russian hip-hop soundtrack, the sexy video shows the officers in Vladivostok dancing, swigging champagne and dive-bombing across the floor, while another scene depicts a lingerie-clad female officer rubbing customs documents against her breasts. These segments are intercut with shots of a mysterious Batman-like figure, perhaps an intentional dig at Putin, who was infamously referred to as the character in one of WikiLeaks' leaked U.S. State Department cables.
"I also like a laugh and a joke, but artistic creativity is best left for the house of culture," Putin is quoted as saying by the AFP. "Their talent needs to be put to use somewhere else. But not at work. At work they need to work on implementing customs rules and doing their job."