NEW YORK, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- A video showing the "strange behavior" of birds in New York is going viral after a Russian news station spotted the shape of Vladimir Putin's face in the flock. 
 
 The video, posted to YouTube by Sheryl Gilbert, purports to show the "strange behavior of birds" flying in a flock near the Brooklyn Bridge. 
 
 The video went viral in Russia after news station Zvezda aired the footage and reporters said a shape seen in a close-up of the birds appears to be the face of President Vladimir Putin. 
 
 The station, owned by the Russian Defense Ministry, cautioned the video could have been faked, but Gregory West, who identified himself as Gilbert's husband, said on Twitter the footage was real and shot from a tour bus during a recent visit to New York. 
 
 "Saw it several days ago during a trip and that's amazing! Can you see the face? Who is it?" West tweeted. ||||| Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Mikhail Klimentyev/ Presidential Press Service/RIA-Novosti/AP) 
 
 In Russia, Vladimir Putin's face is a common sight on television, newspapers, T-shirts, book covers and patriotic graffiti. So it was no wonder that a Russian TV channel, Zvezda ("Star"), claimed that Putin's face could be seen in the outlines of a swarm of birds flying above New York. Zvezda is known for its strictly patriotic views and is owned by the Russian Defense Ministry. 
 
 The TV channel pointed to a YouTube video posted by someone named Sheryl Gilbert. The video was uploaded Tuesday and generated lots of comments in Russian on Wednesday after the Russian channel picked it up. "It's a warning to the U.S. that they shouldn't start a war with Russia," one user wrote. "Putin bribed American birds," commented another in Ukrainian. Someone else suggested that the outlines did not resemble Putin's face as much as that of Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. But there wasn't much support for that view. 
 
 Gregory West, who claims to be the husband of Sheryl Gilbert, posted a link to the video on Twitter on Tuesday. "Saw it several days ago during a trip and that's amazing! Can you see the face? Who is it?" 
 
 Some suggested that it was Steve Jobs, Robin Williams or Jerry Mouse. But some think the video is a fake. Zvezda also warned that it cannot guarantee the authenticity of the video. ||||| Matthew Dunn news.com.au 
 
 IT turns out Vladimir Putin was seen invading the skies of New York City last week. 
 
 OK, that might be a stretch, but if you believe an 11-second YouTube clip, the Russian president was definitely there in spirit. 
 
 Sheryl Gilbert was on board a tourist bus when she captured footage of a flock of birds swarming around the New York skyline. 
 
 What made the clip impressive was the fact the birds flew into a formation that resembled a human face. 
 
 And it is not just any face, but the face of Putin. 
 
 Since being uploaded to YouTube, the video has gained a lot of attention and has been viewed more than a million times. 
 
 While many are quick to condemn the video as a fake, a number of Russian YouTube users think the event is a message. 
 
 “This is a hint: imagine what we can do during the war, if we can now make your birds fly resembling the face of our president,” commented one user. 
 
 “It’s a warning to the US that they shouldn’t start a war with Russia,” wrote another. 
 
 Check out the video below and let us know your thoughts in the comments section or tweet us @newscomauHQ ||||| The details were horrifying. Ukrainian officials had nailed a 3-year-old, clad in just his underwear, to a wooden board “just like Jesus,” right before his mother’s eyes, according to Russian state television. Then, said Galina Pyshniak, Channel One’s sole witness and a pro-Russian refugee, the military in Slovyansk had grabbed the mother, tied her to a tank, and dragged her three times around the city’s central Lenin Square. “The Ukrainian army are not liberators—they’re bastards,” she said. 
 
 “One’s mind refuses to understand how anything like that could happen today in the center of Europe, while one’s heart does not believe that such thing is possible at all,” Channel One’s anchor philosophized. 
 
 But Russian opposition leaders said Monday that there was no evidence that such a public execution had taken place in Slovyansk. Alexei Navalny and Boris Nemtsov called the story “dangerously false” and called for the management of Channel One, Russia’s most popular channel, to be put on trial for broadcasting it. 
 
 The calls came after the independent Moscow-based newspaper Novaya Gazeta dispatched a reporter, Yevgeny Feldman, to Slovyansk last weekend to search for more witnesses of the alleged execution. “Nobody I spoke with in Slovyansk has heard a thing about this,” he tweeted. 
 
 Now Russian bloggers and opposition activists are accusing Channel One of manipulating its viewers’ minds. “On seeing the horrors of such inhuman torture, an ordinary viewer would have only one intention: to join the volunteer forces and ‘seek revenge against the Ukrainian fascists,’” Nemtsov wrote on his Facebook page. Navalny, a former candidate for Moscow mayor, insisted that misinformation on both sides of the conflict in Ukraine has become just as important as combat operations. 
 
 Over the last few months, any criticism of Russian state politics in Ukraine has been greeted harshly by pro-Kremlin patriotic organizations, which have condemned critics as betrayers of the Russian people. Both Nemtsov and Navalny have appeared on lists of “Fifth Columnists,” or traitors, for their opposition views. On Monday, activists from the art collective Glavplakat bicycled along anti-Putin marchers’ favorite protest routes wearing masks depicting the faces of opposition leaders and T-shirts with gay pride rainbows across their chests. The collective’s public action, dubbed “The Fifth Velo-column,” carried with it a message for Muscovites: “Strangers are still among us.” To many Russian intellectuals who disagree with the politics of the Kremlin but are still patriotic, such actions appear intimidating and hostile. 
 
 Who is more of a Russian patriot, someone who demands better quality television or someone who goes to the front as a volunteer to join the Russian Spring movement and fight the Ukrainian army? “Of course volunteers going to the front show real patriotism for Russia and the Russian nation,” said Sergei Surkov, a young Russian nationalist in St. Petersburg who said he planned to join the Rezerv Patriotic Club, a recruiting and training organization, to prepare dozens of young people for combat in Ukraine. 
 
 “Most of the guys I know decided to join the fighting in Ukraine after the Odessa fire,” Surkov, a former history student at Moscow State University, told The Daily Beast. “When I hear on television how Ukrainians are killing children, my blood boils.” ||||| Photo: Vasily Maximov/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 For his birthday, President Obama only got a photo essay of the past year’s events posted to the White House website. Russian president Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, got a whole exhibition comparing him to the Greek mythical hero Heracles (known further west as Hercules). No joke — it’s called “The 12 Labors of Putin.” 
 
 The exhibit was held on Monday by members of a pro-Putin Facebook group in Moscow’s “Red October” showspace, formerly the site of a chocolate factory by the same name. Putin turns 62 on Tuesday. 
 
 “Interestingly, the events of the ancient legends about the mythological hero Hercules can be relayed onto our days, when the three-headed dog Cerberus reminds us of the USA, annihilation of the Stymphalian Birds — of stopping the air raids in Syria and the cleaning of the Augean stables is fighting corruption,” the organizers wrote on Facebook, apparently in earnest. 
 
 The organizer at the event itself appeared to be a young, bearded man named Mikhail Antonov, whose T-shirt was almost obscured by his blazer. Almost, but not quite — it appeared to read “Vladimir Putin” and have a thumbs-up sign underneath. 
 
 куратор выставки о подвигах Путина pic.twitter.com/uzoQT4pfgk — Feldman (@EvgenyFeldman) October 6, 2014 
 
 He said that members of the Facebook group often sent in artwork depicting the president, and they decided to do a thematic show for the leader’s birthday. So what were the 12 feats? 
 
 1. Fight against terrorism (Nemean Lion) 
 
 Photo: Vasily Maximov/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 2. Response to sanctions (Lernaean hydra) 
 
 The U.S.’s severed head lies by his feet as he battles the remaining heads: Japan, the EU, and Canada. Japan is breathing a flame reading “sanctions” onto Putin. 
 
 Photo: Vasily Maximov/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 3. The Sochi Olympics (Ceryneian Hind) 
 
 четвертый подвиг Путина - олимпиада pic.twitter.com/VbqBJxYPsp — Feldman (@EvgenyFeldman) October 6, 2014 
 
 4. Liquidation of the oligarchs (Erymanthian Boar) 
 
 5. Fight against corruption (Augean stables) 
 
 Угадайте какой из "12 подвигов Путина" на этой картине. pic.twitter.com/aBJoaZZWYx — Грани.ру (@GraniTweet) October 6, 2014 
 
 6. Stopping air strikes on Syria (Stymphalian Birds) 
 
 Putin spoke out for his friend Bashar al-Assad, warning the U.S. and allies not to launch strikes into Syria without the dictator’s consent. 
 
 Photo: Vasily Maximov/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 7. Annexing Crimea (Cretan Bull) 
 
 8. Contract for French Mistral warships (Mares of Diomedes) 
 
 Photo: Vasily Maximov/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 9. South Stream gas pipeline (Belt of Hippolyta) 
 
 Putin’s plan for a pipeline that would transport gas to Europe through the Black Sea, avoiding the traditional route through Ukraine. 
 
 "Twelve labours of Putin" exhibition in Moscow on Russian president's birthday eve pic.twitter.com/WNECCG7Mpk — Feldman (@EvgenyFeldman) October 6, 2014 
 
 10. Gas contract with China (Cattle of Geryon) 
 
 11. Support for the Minsk agreement for a cease-fire in Ukraine (Apples of the Hesperides) 
 
 12 подвигов Путина: минское перемирие pic.twitter.com/ZdrSQfScIW — Katja Kuznetsova (@KuznetsovaKatja) October 6, 2014 
 
 12. Conflict with the U.S. (Cerberus) 
 
 Putin as Hercules exhibit. Cerberus=USA. "Eurasian Union created by Putin will end unipolar world & kill Cerberus" pic.twitter.com/cAWaQWTSvD — Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn) October 6, 2014 
 
 In a video of the exhibit put out by Grani.ru, a Russian-language news site, a young woman identified as Yevgeniya, a student, praises the show. “We love him and support him in everything,” she said of the president. “That’s why we’re here.” 
 
 Lefty Russian photographer Evgeny Feldman also attended the exhibit. “One of the 12 labors of Putin fell on the floor — liquidation of the oligarchy,” he tweeted in Russian, subtly noting that the president hasn’t had an issue with oligarchs who don’t stand up against him. 
 
 Next year’s exhibit: “Genesis 1 Through Putin’s Eyes.” In the beginning, Putin created the heavens and the Earth … ||||| On 'SNL,' Aziz Ansari Aims To Quell Some American Angst That Shirtless Putin Can't 
 
 YouTube 
 
 With no shortage of material to work with, Saturday Night Live satirized a packed week in American politics, reiterating themes imparted by critics for months. 
 
 The episode kicked off by lampooning Russia's role in influencing the U.S. election. 
 
 Cast member Beck Bennett brought back smug shirtless Vladimir Putin, the star of Saturday's cold open, to assuage America's fears about their new president, in a speech carried by RT, the Russian government-funded outlet. 
 
 "You are worried that your country is in the hands of this unpredictable man. But don't worry, it's not," he smirks. 
 
 Just look at Russia, suggests SNL's Putin, whose administration also started out on a road of skepticism. 
 
 "Many Russians were skeptical of me at first too, but today, no one seems to hear from any of them," he says. "It's like they're gone." 
 
 The same day millions of American women marched to protest an administration they believe threatens their rights, Bennett's Putin says that we must simply look to the satisfaction of Russian women to ease our fears. 
 
 Enter Olya, Kate McKinnon's subservient Russian character, reading from a scripted statement detailing her contentment under Putin's leadership. Olya returns, from outside the window behind him, wearing a pink 'pussyhat,' gesturing "I'm watching you," at her leader. 
 
 SNL made fun of the low attendance of Friday's inauguration, the central topic of discussion at the White House Briefing Room earlier Saturday evening, when White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer accused media outlets of downplaying crowd sizes. 
 
 But what may have genuinely quelled American viewers more were diplomatic words from the week's host, comedian Aziz Ansari. Ansari's monologue fell in line with a larger trend among soapbox comedians, who aim to argue a broader social message first — to what's often their already solid fan base — and to elicit laughter second. 
 
 As NPR Politics reporter Jessica Taylor notes, "The most nuanced takes on the election have come from stand-up comedians," like Dave Chappelle's hosting stint the weekend after the election and now, Aziz Ansari the day after the inauguration. 
 
 "We've always been divided by some of these big political issues. It's fine," the comedian said. "As long as we treat each other with respect and remember that ultimately, we're all Americans, we'll be fine." 
 
 Dubbing him the "Chris Brown of politics," Ansari said we shouldn't demonize all of Trump's supporters. Like the fans of the pop star who beat former girlfriend Rihanna, some supporters rallied behind Trump for his ideology (in Brown's case, the tunes), not his character. 
 
 Laying out the day's events as a reason to stay hopeful, Ansari continued, "Change doesn't come from presidents, change comes from large groups of angry people. And if day one [of Trump's presidency] is any indication, you are part of the largest group of angry people I've ever seen," he cracked. "Yesterday, Trump was inaugurated — today, an entire gender protested against him." 
 
 The next political-themed sketch of the night featured Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway (McKinnon, again) in a Chicago-esque parody. Dodging questions in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper (Bennett), McKinnon's Conway pivots instead to perform a musical number about her newfound celebrity in the political world. 
 
 Next up, the show's "Weekend Update" segment took on the week's leftover news headlines. In exchange for the "Update" anchor's usual humorous twist to cap off each news item, Michael Che frequently leaned on a reaction image of Michelle Obama depicted with a side-eye glance, adding a curt "Hmph." The many faces of the former first lady on Inaguration Day, which suggest she broke her poker face, have been circulating social media. 
 
 The post-inauguration show closed with a sentimental tribute to the 44th president. Cecily Strong, joined a couple verses later by Sasheer Zamata, sang "To Sir, With Love," in front of a backdrop of a black-and-white photo of Barack Obama. The scene echoed the show's post-election episode, featuring Kate McKinnon's solemn double tribute to a freshly defeated Hillary Clinton and the late singer Leonard Cohen. 
 
 The screen faded to black with the message, "Thank You President Obama." 
 
 Viewers on Twitter lamented the absence of resident Trump impersonator Alec Baldwin, who has previously said he's "trying to shed the Donald Trump cloak." 
 
 Hopefully Baldwin's no-show will give some solace to the new president, who has criticized SNL as "Unwatchable! Totally biased, not funny and the Baldwin impersonation just can't get any worse. Sad."
– Is Russia's leader glowering over America? A YouTube video purporting to show Vladimir Putin's face forming in a flock of birds above New York City has gotten a lot of online attention—especially in Russia, UPI reports. Posted under the name Sheryl Gilbert, it was aired last week by Russia's state-owned and "strictly patriotic" Zvezda news station, notes the Washington Post. Russian users quickly weighed in, posting comments like "It's a warning to the US that they shouldn't start a war with Russia" and, from a Ukrainian, "Putin bribed American birds." Many say the 11-second video is fake, Australia's News Network reports, but no one has described the alleged fakery in detail. Gregory West, whose Twitter account describes him as a "Patriot," "Conservative," "Political Blogger" and "Proud Husband of @ _SherylGilbert," tweeted, "Saw it several days ago during a trip and that's amazing! Can you see the face? Who is it?"