Putins new critics: The celebrity influencers warning Russians might snap

Fitness videos, makeup tutorials — and now a viral manifesto on the growing problems plaguing Russia.

A celebrity influencer’s direct warning to Vladimir Putin that his people might “snap” has prompted a rare acknowledgment of public criticism from the Kremlin.

The 18-minute Instagram critique was a surprise pivot for Victoria Bonya, a Monaco-based Russian influencer whose videos are better known for their lifestyle tips. But the former reality television star struck a chord in Russia, where disquiet has been bubbling for months over issues including a sweeping crackdown on the internet.

An increasingly sluggish economy and a lack of battlefield progress in Ukraine are also adding to the Kremlin’s woes.

“There is a big, fat wall between you and us, the ordinary people,” Bonya, 46, said in a direct address to Putin earlier this week as she accused top officials of being too afraid to tell him the truth.

She rattled off to her 13 million followers a number of problems that she said were facing Russia — the major curtailing of digital freedoms, mass extermination of livestock in Siberia, deadly flooding in the southern Dagestan region and the oil slick drifting off Russia’s Black Sea coast.

“People will get tired of being afraid,” she said in the video, which has now been viewed more than 26 million times and liked by 1.4 million. “They’re being compressed like a spring, and one day, that spring will just snap.”

Bonya stressed that she still supports Putin, calling him a “very strong” politician. “But you don’t know about many things,” she said.