It might not be the photographer. Rather, it could be the person or persons in charge of Vladimir Putin’s publicity, or some other staff member. But — according to Systema, the investigative unit of RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty (RFE/RL) — someone in the Kremlin has been recycling old photos of Putin taken at various meetings and other functions, and passing them off as current.

The question is: Why?

The discrepancy was revealed by Systema’s comparison of some of the recently-released pictures of Putin, taken in front of a particular bookcase in his office, with older photos taken in the same spot. The order of the books was seen to have changed slightly in February of this year; but some of the supposedly current pictures showed the pre-February arrangement. And a review of Putin’s official schedule for the early months of the year indicated some possible inconsistencies or gaps during the times the questionable photos were released. [Andrei Soshnikov, Yelizaveta Surnacheva, and Systema, RFE/RL, August 26, 2025.]

Putin is nearly 73 years old. He is said to take care of himself — keeping fit, maintaining a healthy diet, not smoking, etc. But he has already outlived the Russian life expectancy tables by four years, and after a while, even a Rolls Royce is bound to need more than routine maintenance. So perhaps those inconsistencies were a cover-up for a medical issue.

Or perhaps not. There isn’t a leader of any country who doesn’t have secrets . . . and particularly a country as mired in secrecy as Russia has always been. He may have been absent for days at a time for reasons he didn’t want the world — perhaps even his own staff — to know about. And if so, I would rather not speculate as to what he might have been up to. My sleep is disturbed by enough bad dreams already.

Another possibility has to do with the old rumor about plastic surgery. Putin has better taste than to adopt the Trump method of hiding his balding head with ludicrous baseball caps and his sagging facial muscles with orange makeup, which only make him look older and even more ridiculous. So maybe Vlad went out for a little nip-and-tuck.

Then there is the best-case scenario: it’s possible that the old boy just wanted a bit of time off with his longtime girlfriend (and reportedly mother of at least two of his children), former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva. And who could blame him for that? After all, he has one of the most stressful jobs in the world. It can’t be easy to wage a war against Ukraine, create an entirely new world order, and manipulate someone like Donald Trump, all at the same time, without eventually burning out.

Whatever the reasons for the photographic subterfuge, kudos to the folks at Systema for their eagle-eyed reportage, and for trying to keep the truth flowing.

We could use your expertise here in Washington, if you’re not too busy . . . because there’s a lot of funny business going on that people need to know about . . . and it goes way deeper than a few old pictures.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/29/25