Putin’s awkward online voting video features a Dell PC and an “Activate Windows” watermark

Facepalm: Russia might have spent more than a decade trying to drop US technology in favor of home-grown alternatives, but it appears that even President Vladimir Putin is happy to use a Dell PC and Windows for a video showing him casting his vote. It also seems that the Kremlin didn’t want to pay Microsoft the $139 activation key: Putin was using an unactivated copy of the OS, and looked about as comfortable using the computer as most 73-year-olds would.

In the clip, the Russian president was casting his vote online in the country’s State Duma elections, which were held between September 18 and 20 to elect members of the lower house.

But the video is getting a lot of attention for reasons unlikely to please the Russian president. Firstly, there’s no attempt to hide that the PC being used in this case is a US-made Dell, likely a Dell U3011, running Windows.

It looks as if Moscow isn’t in a hurry to hand over any more money to Microsoft. A magnified section of the video appears to show the Activate Windows watermark. This indicates that Windows is unactivated, though not necessarily unlicensed: a legitimately licensed installation can also display the warning if activation fails.

– Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) September 18, 2026

Not using something like Astra Linux, which has a 74% share of the Russian-made OS market, for the shoot is something of a surprise.

There could be reasons why this Windows copy is unactivated. Maybe it was set up only for this clip, so registering a fresh copy of the OS was deemed unnecessary. Or perhaps Russia thought it was mocking Microsoft and the US?

Or maybe it was all a ploy to distract from Putin’s computer skills. He looks far from at ease when casting his vote, as the president squints at the screen, takes long pauses, and occasionally resembles the dog from the old “I have no idea what I’m doing” meme. His exclamation that “You can’t go wrong” sounds more like he’s trying to convince himself.

Putin has never come across as technically inclined. It was reported in July 2026 that he still doesn’t own a smartphone, though his spokesperson claims this is due to security and privacy concerns. He’s also said to be wary of the internet and modern communications, but then maybe we all should be.