It’s so difficult to detect snark on the Internet even from people you know. Add in a language barrier, the difficulty of the author being autocratic dictator who regularly orders the death of people for failing to bow low enough, and well …

Asked about a dossier alleging Trump's sexual activities at a Moscow hotel, Putin dismissed it as "fake" and charged that people who ordered it are "worse than prostitutes." 

 Is Putin defending Trump, or is this some really high level trolling? It’s genuinely hard to tell.

Putin, speaking at a news conference Tuesday, described a dossier on Trump as part of efforts by President Barack Obama's administration to "undermine the legitimacy of the president-elect" despite his "convincing" victory.

He said some now want to "stage a Maidan in Washington.”

Ah. That would be Euromaidan, the square where protesters gathered to chase Viktor Yanukovych out of Ukraine after it became clear that he was under Putin’s thumb as a pro-Russian puppet. Yanukovych, who was put into office with the help of Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, immediately turned his back on the European Union and instead signed a treaty with Russia. Which led to an uprising, and Yanukovych getting chased to Moscow, where he huddles even now under charges of high treason.

Funny that Putin would bring up that image.