It’s a scene straight out of “The Wild One.” No it’s not Marlon Brando invading small town America, its Vladimir Putin’s motorcycle buddies invading the Ukraine.
The gang of Russian bikers (called the ‘Night Wolves’) regularly ride with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but their new destination in the Ukraine to back pro-Russian protests, its leader said Friday.
Although the entire story seems surreal, Putin actually rides his Harley-Davidson occasionally with the ‘Night Wolves’ for photo ops. The president calls them his “brothers” while their leader, Alexander Zaldostanov, calls Putin “the Surgeon.”
That may be the most logical name to anyone who has spent time in one of his gulags.
The ‘Night Wolves’ fiercely oppose Ukraine’s European integration and the mass protests that have taken place in Kiev. So they will ride their “hogs” in what their website describes as “ready to die like warriors”.
The town of Popasnaya in eastern Ukraine is their destination. “Tomorrow people are organizing an action called “Russian Spring,” gang leader Zaldostanov told the RIA Novosti news agency.
“The column will start at 8:00 am and ride across the whole eastern part of Ukraine.” Zaldostanov, the Marlon Brando loner while Putin is away. He will continue to the Crimean port of Sevastopol where Russia’s Black Sea fleet is based – alone and “free.”
Zaldostanov, is tall and dresses for the role with studded leather and a pony tail.
Three-years-ago, worldwide photos showed Putin riding his Harley-Davidson leading a long column of bikers to a rally held on a former Soviet warship in the Russian Black Sea port city of Novorossiisk.
Word has it that nobody asked him what he was protesting allowing Putin could say the famous Brando line from “The Wild One;” “What have you got?”
