Why does the mysterious blonde keep appearing in Putin’s photos?

A “soldier” honored by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his New Year’s message has appeared in photos with the leader before – as an ice cream seller, fisherman and shepherd around Christmas time.

The blonde, dressed in formal dress and graced by other famous soldiers in the dictator’s holiday broadcast, is a staple of Putin’s public appearances, cybir. Reported on messaging app Telegram.

“In September 2016, the president was photographed on a lake in the Novgorod region with fishermen – she was among them,” Sibir.realii wrote.

She was identified as Larisa Sergukina at that time.

The newspaper said the woman was also among a group of parishioners around Putin in 2017 at the Eastern Orthodox Christmas service in a Novgorod monastery and is referred to as Sergokina.

The photos show that at least two former “hunters” with the woman were also photographed as “parishioners” on duty, leading some observers to speculate that they are all actors who were used for photo ops with Putin or a failed attempt. To hide his security details.

The woman was also seen on two other occasions – in 2017 and 2019 – “selling” ice cream to Putin at an airshow in Moscow.

Like the British tabloid The Sun Reported in 2019Putin paid more than 4,000 rubles for the ice cream – about $ 60 – and asked the blonde to give change to the Minister of Aviation for the “development of aviation.”

At the time, Kremlin watchers saw that the woman was likely a member of Putin’s protective service, working under cover to help the Russian president appear to mingle with ordinary Russians.

In this year’s New Year’s broadcast, the woman was identified as a medic in the Russian army, Anna Sidorenko. She stood behind Putin with her supposed comrades in combat fatigues during a message about the war in Ukraine.

In the speech, Putin pledged to defend Russia’s “historic lands” – a reference to his assertion that Ukraine is not an independent country.

Putin also blamed the war on Ukraine’s Western allies.

He said, “The West lied about peace.” She was preparing for aggression. … And now they are cynically using Ukraine and its people to weaken and divide Russia.

Putin has long pushed the theory that NATO and the EU have sought to threaten Russia by supporting Ukraine’s moves to join the European Community.

Despite a year of unexpected setbacks by Russian forces — and a bloody stalemate along the front lines in eastern Ukraine — Putin’s predictions were optimistic.

“Together we will overcome all difficulties and preserve the greatness and independence of our country,” he said.

We will win, for our families and for Russia.

with wire