Putin makes a cameo in Trump's latest attack ad — and Russia is not happy about it

(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Donald Trump had meant to go after Hillary Clinton in his latest Instagram attack ad, but he ultimately ended up offending a different foe entirely — Russia.

The 15-second ad shows Russian President Vladimir Putin performing some sort of martial arts followed by a shot of ISIS executioner "Jihadi John" pointing a gun at the camera:

Is this what we want for a President?A video posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Mar 16, 2016 at 9:15am PDT

"It's an open secret for us that demonizing Russia and whatever is linked to Russia is unfortunately a mandatory hallmark of America's election campaign," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Vice.

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Trump and Putin have had a history of exchanging admiring words about each other, with Trump calling Putin "strong" and a "powerful leader" and Putin saying the GOP frontrunner was "a very colorful character and talented." Putin, however, might have since changed his mind.

"We always sincerely regret this and wish the [U.S.] electoral process was conducted without such references to our country," Peskov said.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.