Extras to surround Vladimir Putin? The Russian president is suspected by some international media of having delivered his New Year greetings surrounded by actors or relatives, during a speech delivered on Saturday at the headquarters of the southern military district of Rostov-on-Don, in western Russia.
A woman regularly poses with Putin
A Belarusian journalist, Tadeusz Giczan, is the first to detect on Twitter that something was wrong with a snapshot of Vladimir Putin presenting his wishes. The Russian president appears, facing the camera, surrounded by a group of people, allegedly members of the Moscow army, according to the Kremlin.
Except that a blonde woman appears to the right of the head of state, already seen in other photos with him in very different contexts. In one of them, we see the woman on a boat in sailor clothes and in the other she appears among a group of worshipers during a mass in the church, each time together with Vladimir Putin.
The ensemble gives the impression that the woman was used as an extra on several occasions to accompany the president on his official outings. “A soldier, a sailor, a devout Christian. God announces himself in a mysterious way”, underlines the journalist ironically.
“An actress?”
“It’s fascinating. Who is she? A bodyguard? An actress?” CNN journalist Clarissa Ward asked in response on Twitter.
The journalist pointed out for her part that other faces also appear recurrently near the Russian president. Indeed, several men appeared next to him, like the blonde woman, on a boat, during a mass, but also during a meal and around a wood fire.
For the journalist from Kyiv Post Jason Jay Smart, could be, if not actors, at least people selected by Vladimir Putin’s entourage to accompany him on his official outings.
An elected official of the Duma?
According to various media, including the Swiss daily Swiss timetables, the blonde woman is Serguhina Larissa Borisovna, a 57-year-old deputy from the city of Novgorod, a member of “United Russia”, Vladimir Putin’s party. She appears on the site of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, where she is introduced as one of its members.
In a few clicks, BFM Business journalist Raphaël Grably was able to find a photo of the elected official, present at a meeting of the Federation Council Committee on food and land policy and environmental management in Russia.
Oleksandra Matviichuk, one of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureates, president of the NGO Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties and an opponent of Vladimir Putin, also took aim at these clichés.
“Putin wanted to copy Zelensky who had gone to see the Ukrainian defenders in Bakhmout. But after ten months of full-scale war, even actors are in short supply, ”he says acidly.
The Russian president has exceptionally left the Kremlin’s gold for his traditional New Year’s greetings. In a martial speech, he addressed the Russians from the front lines on Saturday, hailing the “heroes” fighting for Moscow as the war against Ukraine drags on for more than a decade. “We are going to make our country great and independent,” he said, expressing his confidence in his country’s victory.
Source: BFM TV
