An online petition called "Dear Putin" allows anyone in the world with an e-mail address to sign an open online letter of apology to Russian president Vladimir Putin."Dear President Putin and Russian People, please accept our apologies for the behavior of our governments and media," the letter, translated into 19 languages, begins.
"Western nations, led by the United States, seem determined to start a war with Russia. A sane person would recognize the terrible consequences of such a war and would do everything in their power to avoid it. In fact it appears that this is exactly what you are doing. In the face of an endless stream of lies and provocations you have managed to keep Russia from being drawn into a nuclear war."
The petition was posted on the Dearputin.com and is available in 19 different languages. Though the website's origin is unclear, it has received ample attention in the Russian media.
A headline in the Russian government's official newspaper, Rossiiskaya Gazeta on September 11 announced "Europeans ask for Vladimir Putin's forgiveness". LifeNews, a hugely popular tabloid connected to Russia's security services, carried a story on the same day declaring "The DearPutin.com resource is gaining popularity."
According to the website, more than 55,000 people have signed the petition as of December 4. Among the purported signatories are citizens of the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Australia, the United States, Kazakhstan, Sweden, Paraguay, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and, oddly, Russia.
The petition also attacks Western media for blaming separatists in Ukraine for shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and condemns Western governments for supporting Ukrainian "neo-Nazis".
The letter says, "The pathological criminals of the West are pushing for war with Russia because they need an external enemy. As long as the people are focused on 'Russian aggression' they remain unaware of those truly responsible for the decline of the American economy and social system. In Europe, with its history of brutal wars sparked by arrogance and greed, European leaders have undergone a complete moral collapse and have naively fallen into line behind the USA's policy of imperial aggression."