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image source, AFP
Vladimir Putin has wanted to project an “image of masculinity” with photos like this one, in which he was seen riding a horse bare-chested in 2009.
Vladimir Putin responded to Western leaders who mocked his bare-chested images this week by saying it would be “disgusting” to see them take off their clothes.
The remarks came following leaders at the G7 summit mocked the Russian president’s habit of posing shirtless in pictures.
But Putin suggested that his counterparts need to stop drinking alcohol and do more sports.
He also rejected comments from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who said that Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if he had been a woman.
During a press conference, Putin pointed out that this assessment “is not correct” and argued that Margaret Thatcher “decided to initiate hostilities” in the Falklands/Malvinas War.
Putin’s pictures
Putin has been photographed shirtless on various occasions in Russian state media, including riding a horse, carrying a hunting rifle or going fishing.
The photos have been widely interpreted as an attempt by the Russian president to project a sense of masculinity that draws the attention of many of his compatriots.
At the G7 summit in Germany earlier this week, Johnson taunted him by proposing that the leaders present should take off their clothes to “show that we are stronger than Putin.”
The British prime minister also suggested that leaders “show him our pecs,” while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said they “go bare-chested on horseback.”
image source, Getty Images
No tie but shirt on. Western leaders scoffed at “showboating” images of their counterpart Vladimir Putin.
At a news conference in Turkmenistan, Putin responded to the comments: “I don’t know if they wanted to strip from the waist up or from the waist down, but I think in either case it would be disgusting“.
He also included a reference to the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin: “You can be a cunning man and think of the beauty of your nails.”
And he continued: “I certainly agree with that: everything in the person should develop in harmony, both the soul and the body.”
“But so that everything can be this harmonious, you must stop abusing alcohol, and other vices, exercising, playing sports“.
“The colleagues you have mentioned, I know all of them personally – we are not going through the best period of our relations, that is understandable,” he added.
“However, they are all leaders, which means they have character. And if they wanted to, they might really make the desired progress.”
But he reiterated: “You have to take care of yourself. And the fact that they’re talking regarding it is very good, I commend them for that.”
If there was a woman in front?
When Putin’s comments were reported to Boris Johnson during a NATO press conference on Thursday, the British prime minister did not respond directly, but highlighted how the nations of the West had united in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
image source, Getty Images
A fishing trip in Siberia was another opportunity for Russia’s president to pose shirtless.
Putin was also asked regarding Johnson’s remarks last week that the Russian president would not have invaded Ukraine if he had been a woman.
In an interview with the German channel ZDF, Johnson said that the “crazy, macho” invasion was a “perfect example of toxic masculinity”while calling for “more women in positions of power.”
In this regard, the Russian president referred to the conflict between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands in 1982. “I want to recall the events of recent history, when Margaret Thatcher decided to start military hostilities once morest Argentina over the islands falklands[/Malvinas]”.
“So a woman decided to start hostilities. Where are those Falkland Islands?”[/Malvinas] and where is Great Britain? And that was ruled by nothing other than the imperial ambitionsconfirmation of his imperial status”.
The 10-week Falklands/Malvinas conflict began in 1982 when Argentine troops invaded the South Atlantic islands, which are a British colony.
Argentina maintains that it had inherited the islands from Spain in the 1800s and wanted to claim them.
Britain, which has ruled the islands for 150 years, sent its maritime armed forces to recapture the islands. Argentine troops surrendered on June 14.
image source, Getty Images
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