Remember that viral video of the woman in Russia pouring bleach on open crotches on public transport to protest manspreading?

Well, one man from the video has revealed to Bumaga, a Russian magazine, that he was paid to act as a victim in the film causing many to suspect the video is staged Kremlin propaganda. There are even captions in the orginal video that state that “some say it’s all staged”.

The clip entitled Spread your legs? Here you go. shows Dovgalyuk assaulting a number of men and explaining that her actions were a fight against “an act of gender aggression”. It currently has over six million views.

An anti-disinformation site has pointed out that the video appeared on In The Now, a social media channel funded by the Russian government. It is under the same umbrella as the English language Russian news site RT (Russia Today), although it does not openly state that it is Kremlin owned, and specialises in disturbing viral videos.

By bringing this video to international audiences, the site has managed to weigh in on the ongoing conversation around feminism, the patriarchy and #MeToo. But it has undermined the movement by attaching it to an act of extremism which serves as bait for anti-feminists and the political-correctness-gone-mad brigade.

The video sparked hundreds of misogynistic comments in response. Robin Stedman holds the top comment for suggesting men should pour bleach water on the woman for “sticking her breasts out” saying its the “same thing”. While another user wrote: “Imagine working 12h shift and having an entitled city girl pour a bit of feminism on you.”

In June, President Putin suggested that he was suspicious of the #MeToo movement. He told reporters: “I think we need to support the interests of all citizens without regard to gender, religion, age, but the question still begs itself: why is this only being done now? Why not 10 years ago when some of these incidents supposedly took place?”