And here I thought I'd heard of everything lunatic about politics!  Kat

Spell of trouble for Dobby
By Laura Smith, Evening Standard
28 January 2003

Dobby, the computer-animated elf in the new Harry Potter film, could be at the centre of a court battle over his resemblance to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

A Russian law firm is reportedly drawing up legal action against the special effects people who dreamt up Dobby, arguing that the ugly but caring elf has been modelled on Mr Putin.

The Kremlin and Warner Bros, producer of Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, have declined to comment but the controversy has stirred emotions in Russia. Potter websites and chatrooms have been inundated with angry Russian messages attacking anyone suggesting a likeness between the elf and Mr Putin. The saga has gripped the Russian media, too. Radio station Ekho
Moskvy has reported on the row and Russian  TV is to broadcast results of a BBC poll in which more than 7,000 people say Dobby does look like Mr Putin.

It is the second Russian controversy surrounding Harry Potter. Last year, the Russian Orthodox Church called for the books about the boy wizard to be banned for promoting occultism.

It is not the first time Russians have lashed out over "misuse" of an image of their president. In 1995, the prosecutor-general investigated alleged insults against Boris Yeltsin in a satirical puppet show. The case was later dropped.