SHE IS NOT an opposition politician, activist or journalist. Victoria Bonya is a Russian former television presenter turned(转变为) influencer living near Monaco. She promotes fitness routines and her brand of vegan cosmetics and clothing to 13m subscribers on Instagram, most of them in Russia. But on April 13th she caused an explosion in Russian politics with an 18-minute video appealing to Vladimir Putin to heed(听取，关注) popular complaints. “Vladimir Vladimirovich(普京的名+父名，表示尊敬), the people are afraid of you,” Ms Bonya said. “I am not afraid.”
她不是反对派政治家、活动家或记者。维多利亚·博尼亚是俄罗斯前电视主持人，现转型为网红，居住在摩纳哥附近。她向Instagram上1300万订阅者（大部分在俄罗斯）推广健身教程以及自己品牌的纯素化妆品和服装。但在4月13日，她以一段18分钟的视频在俄罗斯政坛引发爆炸性反响，呼吁弗拉基米尔·普京关注民众的抱怨。“弗拉基米尔·弗拉基米罗维奇，人民害怕您，”博尼亚女士说，“但我不怕。”
Ms Bonya listed a series of grievances(抱怨，不满)—the inadequate response to deadly floods in Dagestan in early April, repeated oil spills in the Black Sea and cattle culls(扑杀牛群) depriving Siberian villages of their livelihood. She then turned to recent internet restrictions and bans on social-media platforms such as Instagram, the source of her own income. Within hours her video had clocked 10m views(达到1000万观看量), in a country with a population of 145m. Seemingly half the personalities in Russian public life commented on it. Gennady Zyuganov, the leader of the quasi-opposition Communist Party, said the Kremlin should take it seriously to avoid another Bolshevik revolution(布尔什维克革命（即十月革命）).
博尼亚女士列举了一系列不满：4月初达吉斯坦致命洪水应对不力、黑海反复发生的石油泄漏，以及剥夺西伯利亚村庄生计的牛群扑杀。她接着谈到了最近的互联网限制和对Instagram等社交媒体平台的禁令，而Instagram正是她收入的来源。短短几小时内，她的视频在一个拥有1.45亿人口的国家获得了1000万次观看。俄罗斯公共生活中似乎有一半的人物都对此发表了评论。准反对派共产党领导人根纳季·久加诺夫表示，克里姆林宫应该认真对待此事，以避免另一场布尔什维克革命。
The regime’s response was at first mixed. Dmitry Peskov, Mr Putin’s press secretary, acknowledged Ms Bonya’s concerns were legitimate. Vladimir Solovyov, one of Mr Putin’s more rabid(狂热的，极端的) TV propagandists, called her a “worn-out(破旧的，疲惫的) slut”. Yet Mr Solovyov was soon instructed to apologise to her on air. The Kremlin did what it could to ease the controversy—a tacit recognition that the video had tapped into(触及，利用) a growing wave of popular discontent.
该政权最初的反应不一。普京的新闻秘书德米特里·佩斯科夫承认博尼亚女士的担忧是合理的。弗拉基米尔·索洛维约夫，普京最为狂热的电视宣传者之一，称她为“破鞋”。但索洛维约夫很快被指示在节目中向她道歉。克里姆林宫尽其所能缓和争议——这默示承认该视频触动了日益增长的民众不满情绪。