Russian President Vladimir Putin, 70, has been accused of using actors as the ‘soldiers’ who stood behind him during his New Year’s message.
Eagle-eyed viewers have pointed out that several of the ‘soldiers’ have appeared in previous propaganda videos, as they have accused the President of mimicking Volodymyr Zelensky’s New Year’s message.
The soldiers who flanked the despot for his annual televised New Year’s address have been revealed as actors, posing as soldiers.
Shockingly, the tyrant was also reported to be wearing body armour underneath his suit.
The 70-year-old addressed his nation in front of a dozen servicemen, at the headquarters of the Southern Military District, close to Ukraine, his officials have said.
The people around him were presented as Russian soldiers, having fought the war in Ukraine.
But now, observant viewers have realized that the supposed soldiers were previously pictured around Putin in some of his other propaganda videos.
One of the actors, a blonde woman standing by Putin’s left shoulder, has been seen in multiple other videos.
Like the dozen others, she is seen standing in military clothing during the address on Saturday – having been given a medal earlier by the Russian despot – as she glances between him and the camera.
Reportedly, in the broadcast, the blonde woman was decorated with a medal as a senior captain in the army medical service.
She has now been identified as Captain Anna Sidorenko. But this is not the first time she has been seen.
And media outlet Sibir.Realii – linked to Radio Liberty – has gone on to give two possible outcomes as to why the ‘actors’ have been seen standing by Putin’s side numerous times.
The first is that they are ‘trusted member’ of Putin’s security detail.
And the second, Sibir.Realii have noted, is that they merely an actor, used by Putin to pose as various members of the public.
The outlet said: “Realii has noted that one of the militaries standing behind Putin during his televised address was a woman who has appeared several times in shots with the president, in various roles.”
It went on to give another instance, writing: “In September 2016, the president was photographed on a lake in the Novgorod region along with fishermen – she was among them.”
There, the mysterious woman they note was later identified as Larisa Sergukhina.
She was photographed wearing an orange high-vis jacket, as other security operatives posed as fishermen.
And two other actors who appeared in the New Year’s message were also seen photographed with the woman on numerous occasions.
Sibir.Realii also went on to give another instance where the actors were pictured together with the tyrant, saying: “And in January 2017, these same people were noticed at a [Orthodox] Christmas service in a Novgorod monastery.”
