Russian President Vladimir Putin was pictured in heels among students in Moscow yesterday.
The president, who is 170 cm tall, was spotted doing a publicity stunt in Vorobyovy Gory for Russian Students’ Day.
Putin and his propaganda ministers have carefully cultivated his public image as president — though readers soon noticed he added an extra inch with heeled shoes.
Russian President Vladimir Putin poses for a photo with students from Lomonosov Moscow State University as he visits the Lomonosov Research Cluster in Vorobyovy Gory in Moscow
Image-conscious Vladimir Putin bared his Achilles’ heel in pictures with students in Moscow
Since taking office in 1999, President Putin has been careful to control his image.
American historian Timothy Snyder said that during his rise to power in the late 1990s, polls viewed Vladimir Putin “as the closest opponent” to the fictional Soviet hero Stierlitz, a national favorite and a sort of Russian James Bond.
Putin has since carefully curated his macho image by being photographed riding horses and carrying rifles topless.
In 2015, the Express reported that a Kremlin insider said no one could be taller than the president in official photos.
The source told the newspaper: “That’s why his bodyguards are always shorter than him, to give the impression that Putin is a tall person.”
The Economist declared in 2020: “In politics, size matters.”
The magazine reported research showing that major politicians outperformed their rivals on average in the polls.
This has been attributed to taller people having higher self-esteem, on average, and being perceived as healthier, more intelligent, and more authoritarian.
Vladimir Putin (2-R) stands next to Moscow’s Lomonosov University rector Viktor Sadovnichy (R) and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin (2-L) during his visit to Moscow’s Lomonosov University during the Day of Russian Students ‘Tatiana’ . Day’ in Moscow, Russia
Vladimir Putin pictured himself riding a horse topless while vacationing in southern Siberia in 2009
Putin shows his judo skills at the Top Athletic School in St. Petersburg, also in 2009
Russia is careful to censor negative portrayals of the President.
According to The Guardian, Russian lawyers were reportedly planning a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over apparent similarities between Putin and Harry Potter’s Dobby the Elf.
54% of children responding to a poll on the CBBC website agreed that Putin and Dobby were “likely” separated at birth.
In 2017, the Russian president also made it illegal to share a meme of him portrayed as a “gay clown.”
The banned image below has been labeled as “extremist propaganda.”
Those caught retweeting the image could be fined 3,000 rubles ($53 at the time) or face 15 days in jail.
Alexander Tsvetkov was charged with inciting hatred or enmity for sharing multiple images on his social media account.
The court said the picture indicated “an alleged non-standard sexual orientation of the Russian president,” according to Tsvetkov.
Tsvetkov was committed to a psychiatric institution for the offense.
LGBT rights activists used the meme in the media to protest the lack of protections afforded to the community in Russia.
The Russian Justice Ministry has banned more than 4,000 images that also contained anti-Semitic and racist content – and portrayed Putin as a Nazi.
Russia also banned a popular picture that showed him in full makeup with flowers alongside Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
Image-obsessed Putin banned his portrayal as a “gay clown” and 4,000 other images
The picture shows Putin “with made-up eyes and lips” and suggests “the supposedly non-standard sexual orientation of the President of the Russian Federation,” according to the banned list.