Russian President Vladimir Putin, 70, has been accused of using actors as the 'soldiers' who stood behind him during his New Year's message.
Eagle-eyed viewers have pointed out that several of the 'soldiers' have appeared in previous propaganda videos, as they have accused the President of mimicking Volodymyr Zelensky's New Year's message.
The soldiers who flanked behind the despot for his annual televised New Year's address have been revealed as actors, posing as soldiers.
Shockingly, the tyrant was also reported to be wearing wearing body armour underneath his suit.
The 70-year-old addressed his nation in front of a dozen servicemen, at the headquarters of the Southern Military District, close to Ukraine, his officials have said.
The people around him were presented as Russian soldiers, having fought the war in Ukraine.
But now, observant viewers have realised that the supposed soldiers were previously pictured around Putin in some of his other propaganda videos.
One of the actors, a blonde woman standing by Putin's left shoulder, has been seen in multiple other videos.
Like the dozen others, she is seen standing in military clothing during the address on Saturday - having been given a medal earlier by the Russian despot - as she glances between him and the camera.
Reportedly, in the broadcast, the blonde woman was decorated with a medal as a senior captain in the army medical service.
She has now been identified as Captain Anna Sidorenko.
But this is not the first time she has been seen.
And media outlet Sibir.Realii – linked to Radio Liberty - has gone one to give two possible outcomes as to why the 'actors' have been seen standing by Putin's side numerous times.
The first is that they are 'trusted member' of Putin's security detail.
And the second, Sibir.Realii have noted, is that they merely an actors, used by Putin to pose as various members of the public.
The outlet said: "Realii has noted that one of the military standing behind Putin during his televised address was a woman who has appeared several times in shots with the president, in various roles."
It went on to give another instance, writing: "In September 2016, the president was photographed on a lake in the Novgorod region along with fishermen – she was among them."
There, the mysterious woman they note was later identified as Larisa Sergukhina.
She was photographed wearing an orange high-vis jacket, as other security operatives posed as fishermen.
And two other actors who appeared in the New Year's message were also seen photographed with the woman on numerous occasions.
Sibir.Realii also went on to give another instance where the actors were pictured together with the tyrant, saying: "And in January 2017, these same people were noticed at an [Orthodox] Christmas service in a Novgorod monastery."
Meanwhile another woman was once seen with the Russian President selling ice cream to him when he visited the International Aviation and Space Show in Moscow.
There, she was nicknamed Agent Cornetto, which has lead to claims that Putin uses his own security operatives to pose as ordinary people – so he does not have to meet members of the public.
Reportedly, the the vendor was later identified as Ekaterina Safonova, and is also believed to have been seen in other outings with the president.
Sources at the air show said her only role was to serve Putin.
In 2019 'Agent Cornetto' also served Putin ice cream when he treated visiting Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to a vanilla cone. Ekaterina had also given the Kremlin leader a snack at the same spot two years earlier.
The use of actors goes to suggest that Putin is paranoid about his position as leader being under threat amid failings in Ukraine.
Therefore, he has decided to do all he can to avoid meeting the general public.
Newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets has speculated that the people surrounding him at his New Year's message are colonels or high ranking people in the FSO – the Federal Protection Service – which is responsible for guarding the president.
Health or security concerns are also reportedly behind the reason of such drastic action being taken as he coughed and spluttered on several occasions during his nine-minute New Year speech.
Meanwhile, Putin has been accused of poorly imitating Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky's New Year's address where he made a risky visit to the war's front lines.
There, he was seen shaking hands with soldiers and handing out awards.
Nobel peace prize 2022 co-winner Oleksandra Matviichuk commented on the emulation, saying: "Putin wanted to copy Zelensky, who came to the Ukrainian defenders in Bakhmut.
"But after ten months of full-scale war, even actors are in short supply in Russia."
