Lithuania’s PM parroted Putin’s election slogan. Now she’s had to change it.

Ingrida Šimonytė, the prime minister of Lithuania, has no earthly reason to emulate Russian President Vladimir Putin — but an embarrassing choice of campaign slogan for upcoming presidential elections has put her on the back foot.

The Lithuanian leader’s pitch to voters — “Strong President, Strong Country” — mirrors Putin’s boast of “Strong President, Strong Russia” from his 2018 presidential campaign, which featured a speech to parliament in which he played a CGI video depicting advanced Russian weapons bombing Florida.

Šimonytė on Sunday denied stealing Putin’s thunder, maintaining bravely that “I react very calmly to this criticism,” and reminding reporters that “it is not slogans that win elections, but candidates.”

But her campaign chief, Mindaugas Lingė, has been more forthcoming, admitting the choice of slogan was “imprudent” and “probably not appropriate.” He promised to change it, attributing the error to “simple human indiscretion.”

Lithuania’s presidential elections are scheduled for May 12. Recent polls have the incumbent head of state Gitanas Nausėda in the lead, with Šimonytė in third place.

Denis Leven is hosted at POLITICO under the EU-funded EU4FreeMedia residency program.