Why does the mystery blonde keep appearing in Putin’s photo shoots?

A female ‘soldier’ ​​honored by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his New Year’s message has already appeared in photos with the leader – as an ice cream seller, an angler and a Christmas parishioner.

The blonde, who was dressed in fatigues and partied with other high-profile soldiers on the dictator’s holiday show, is a regular at Putin’s public appearances, Radio Liberty-linked Sibir.Realii reported on the Telegram messaging app.

“In September 2016, the president was photographed on a lake in the Novgorod region with fishermen – she was among them,” Sibir.Realii said.

She was identified as Larisa Sergukhina at the time.

The woman was also among the group of parishioners around Putin in 2017 at an Eastern Orthodox Christmas service at a Novgorod monastery called Sergukhina, the outlet said.

At least two of the ‘anglers’ previously with the woman were also described as ‘parishioners’ at the service, photos show – leading some observers to speculate they are all actors used for photo ops worthy to cringe with Putin or else a bad attempt to conceal his security detail.

The woman was also seen on two other occasions – in 2017 and 2019 – ‘selling’ ice cream to Putin at an air show in Moscow.

As British tabloid The Sun reported in 2019, Putin overpaid for her ice cream by more than 4,000 rubles – around $60 – and told the blonde to give change to the Air Minister for “development.” of aviation”.

At the time, Kremlin watchers believed the woman was likely a member of Putin’s protective service, working undercover to help the Russian president mingle with average Russians.

On this year’s New Year’s show, the woman was identified as Russian army doctor Anna Sidorenko. She stood behind Putin with her alleged comrades in combat gear during a message about the war in Ukraine.

In his speech, Putin pledged to defend Russia’s “historic territory” – a reference to his assertion that Ukraine is not an independent nation.

Putin also blamed the war on Ukraine’s Western allies.

“The West lied about peace,” he said. “He was preparing for the attack. … And now they are cynically using Ukraine and its people to weaken and divide Russia.

Putin has regularly advanced the theory that NATO and the European Union seek to threaten Russia by supporting Ukrainian attempts to join the European community.

Despite a year of unexpected failures by Russian troops – and a bloody standoff along the front lines in eastern Ukraine – Putin’s predictions were optimistic.

“Together we will overcome all difficulties and preserve the greatness and independence of our country,” he said.

“We will triumph, for our families and for Russia.”

With post wires