The Russian President Vladimir Poutine recognized on February 21, 2022 the independence of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine and ordered Russian troops to enter these territories, defying Western countries whose relations with Moscow are going through the worst crisis since the end of the Cold War due to the situation around Ukraine. On the night of Monday to Tuesday, he instructed his army to deploy in the separatist “republics” at the risk of aggravating the conflict in Ukraine which has claimed more than 14,000 lives since 2014. The European Union will so decide this Tuesday to first penalties against the country of Vladimir Putin. A 69-year-old man which has always nourished the cult of force. Through these political decisions but also through the image he has built of himself, illustrated by his shirtless photos.
Three years ago, The Parisian was interested in the strongman image of Vladimir Putin. If it can give rise to smiles or parodies abroad, in Russia, the one to whom health problems are sometimes attributed wants to represent the hero in all his splendor, displaying in particular his physical strength. The former member of the KGB likes to reveal himself half-naked in many official images. Clichés that are often taken during his holidays, in the countryside: “Vladimir Putin, swollen biceps, goes hunting equipped with his rifle. Vladimir Putin rides a horse in the tundra. Vladimir Putin is fishing in a trellis in a river bordering Mongolia.“The French daily thus reveals some of these famous shots.
Why that heightened virility of the Russian leader? “It is one of the elements of a communication centered around virility, the cult of the body, supports Claude Blanchemaison at Parisianex-ambassador of France in Russia and author of Living with Poutine (Temporis editions). If it may seem a little ridiculous to us in France, for the Russians it’s Superman. (…) VSt is a way for Russia to reconnect with one of its classics, and he used it to distance himself from his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, old, sick and with alcohol problems.
A political communication tactic denied by his entourage who simply believes that the President of the Russian Federation is like this in his daily life, naturally, and that it corresponds to his lifestyle as a sportsman.