Russia's in trouble. Time for Putin to take his shirt off.

Posted By James Downie Wednesday, August 5, 2009 - 12:02 PM Share

As we all know, photos are a key part of showing the public who a politician is and what he/she stands for. This weekend, ten years after becoming Boris Yeltsin's heir, Vladimir Putin posed for another set of mostly-shirtless vacation photographs (and a video here). I've been lucky enough to receive secret memos pairing these photos with the specific messages Putin's handlers wanted to send. 

"Can build his own fire...with the help of 8 people and two boats."

"Forces rivers to flow backwards with his mind"

"Remembers to remove his shirt when lost"

"Kind and sensitive to his trusty steed...and owns a killer pair of Foakleys"

"Is a freakin' sea monster"

More seriously, the Moscow Times points out the collapse of the Russian economy and oil prices have barely affected Putin's popularity among Russians (H/T to MW).

ALEXEY DRUZHININ/AFP/Getty Images

EXPLORE:RUSSIA
 

ZJIN

12:16 PM ET

August 5, 2009

I do not see the difference

I do not see the difference between shirtless Putin and beer drink O/basketball playing O...On that matters, every politician needs a moment of phote op.

 

CQUIRK

2:08 PM ET

August 5, 2009

Putin astride

Looks like Brokeback Cossack to me.

 

THESCHLEPPER

12:43 AM ET

August 6, 2009

I just love how he obviously invited the press corp for the trip

"And now I'm going to do a few butterfly laps. Get out your cameras!"

http://theschlepper.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/theres-something-in-the-water/#more-58

 

ANONYMOUS774

8:03 AM ET

August 9, 2009

Heaven forbid someone

Heaven forbid someone actually has body image good enough to be photographed like this. Let's see some pictures of you shirtless, then, you can mock Putin if you still want to.

Cquirk, Putin is ex-KGB, not a Cossack. Wrong group of overly stereotyped Russians.

 

JOHNSM

10:52 AM ET

August 21, 2009

Full independence for Russian colonies

All this Republics have their own presidents, own national flag, own parliaments, hymn and all other things that an independent state needs. These republics are not Russian linguistically, they have their own culture, traditions and religion.

Full independence for Russian colonies:

The Adygea Republic
The Tatarstan Republic
The Chechnya Republic
The Dagestan Republic
The North Ossetia
The Bashkortostan Republic
The Karelia Republic
The Altai Republic
The Kabardino-Balkaria
The Buryatia Republic
The Chuvash Rebublic
The Ingushetia Republic
The Kalmykia Republic
The Karachayevo-Circassian Republic
The Khakasia Republic
The Komi Republic
The Mari Republic
The Mordovian Republic
The Sakha Republic (Yakutia)
The Tyva Republic
The Udmurtia Republic

THEY DREAM ABOUT IT EVERY DAY.

It is only Putin's bloody regime, that does not tolerate freedom
of speech, makes them afraid to speak about this.
These republics are in fact independent, they are not
Russians and never want to be. Chechnya for example has
already issued a declaration of independence, that is one
step away recognition. How cynical can you be to demand
independence for regions in Georgia and not to allow this
for republics in Russia.

 

JOHNSM

10:52 AM ET

August 21, 2009

Put-In

Other nice picture of Putin

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/4936/vladimirputinmr0.jpg

 

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