Accused Vladimir Putin of saying New Year’s wishes extra early

A few kilometers from the border with Ukraine, the Russian president greeted the new year. But the players who should surround him have already found themselves with Vladimir Putin in other contexts and in very different roles.

Extras around Vladimir Putin? The Russian president is suspected of being spelled out by some international media ses vœNew Year Oh Actors or are surrounded by relatives during a speech Saturday at the headquarters of the Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don, western Russia.

A woman regularly poses with Putin

Tadeusz Giczan, a Belarusian journalist, first noticed on Twitter that something was wrong with a snapshot of Vladimir Putin presenting his wishes. The Russian president faced the camera surrounded by a group of people believed to be members of the Moscow military, according to the Kremlin.

Besides, a blonde woman appears to the right of the head of state, already seen with him in other photos in very different contexts. In one of them, we see a woman on a boat in a sailor’s outfit, while on the other she appears in a group of believers during a mass in a church, each time with Vladimir Putin.

The collection gives the impression that the woman was used as an extra on many occasions to accompany the President on his official trips. “A soldier, a sailor woman, a devout Christian. God announces himself in a mysterious way”, the journalist ironically underlines.

“An actress?”

“This is fascinating. Who is she? A bodyguard? An actress?” CNN journalist Clarissa Ward responded on Twitter.

For his part, the journalist noted that other faces would appear again and again next to the Russian president. On a boat, during a mass event, but also during meals and around a wood fire, many men actually appeared at her side, like the blonde woman.

To the journalist Kyiv Post Jason Jay Smart may accompany Vladimir Putin’s entourage, if not actors, on his official trips.

An elected official of the Duma?

According to several media outlets, including a Swiss newspaper Switzerland Times, blonde woman Sergukhina Larisa Borisovna, 57-year-old vice-chancellor from the city of Novgorod, member of Vladimir Putin’s party “United Russia”. She appears that day site He is presented as one of the members of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament.

With a few clicks, BFM business journalist Raphaël Grably was able to find a photo of the elected official at a meeting of the Federation Council Committee on Agricultural and Food Policy and Environmental Management in Russia.

Oleksandra Matvychuk, one of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureates, head of a Ukrainian civil rights NGO and an opponent of Vladimir Putin, pointed out these clichés as well.

“Putin wanted to copy Zelensky, who visited the Ukrainian defenders in Bagmouth. But after ten months of large-scale war, even actors are in short supply,” he says acidly.

The Russian president has made an exception for the Kremlin’s gold for his traditional New Year’s greetings. In a defensive speech, he addressed Russians from the front on Saturday and praised the “heroes” fighting for Moscow. The war against Ukraine has been going on for more than ten months. “We are going to make our country great and free,” he said, expressing his confidence in his country’s victory.