Vladimir Putin has said that world leaders who mocked his notorious shirtless photo shoot would look “disgusting” topless.
G7 leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and European Union President Ursula von der Leyen, mocked the Russian president on Sunday at a summit in Germany.
Asked about the jokes, Putin told reporters on Thursday: “I don’t know how they wanted to undress, above or below the waist,” he said. “But I think it would be a disgusting view in any case.”
The Russian leader said that to look good “you have to stop abusing alcohol and other bad habits, exercise and play sports.”
During the G7 summit, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson referred to the 2009 photos of a naked-breasted Putin riding a horse during a visit to the Tuva region of Siberia.
In this combined image, Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his press conference at Ashgabat International Airport on June 29, 2022 in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Russian President Putin is in Turkmenistan to attend the 6th Caspian and Putin Summit with a horse (Inset) during his vacation outside the southern Siberian city of Kyzyl on August 3, 2009. Getty
When world leaders sat down Sunday for their first three-day summit meeting, Johnson asked, “Do we put on our jackets? Do we take off our jackets? Do we take off our clothes?”
“We all have to prove we’re tougher than Putin,” Johnson joked, suggesting G7 leaders should “show them our chests.”
“Let’s wait for the picture,” Trudeau replied, adding, “We’ll get the riding show bare-chested.”
“Oh, yes. Riding at its best,” von der Leyen said.
In this combined image, Vladimir Putin fishes in the remote region of Tuva, southern Siberia. The photo was taken between 1 and 3 August 2017 with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, during a ‘quad’ meeting at the G7 summit in Castell d’Elmau on June 28, 2022.
Putin continued on Thursday: “In any case, if you remember [Russian poet Alexander] Pushkin, I may make a mistake in the words of the details, but I think he said you can become a businessman and think about the beauty of your nails, “Putin continued.” So I definitely agree with that “.
“Everything in a person must develop harmoniously, both of the soul and of the body.”
The photographs ridiculed by G7 leaders come from a photo shoot when Putin was 56 and a Russian prime minister, before officially returning to the presidency three years later.
They were taken on a trip to a nature reserve in the Tuva region of southern Siberia, which borders Mongolia, and were shown on state television.
Two years before that filming, in August 2007, Putin was photographed fishing shirtless on a mountain river in the same region.
On Thursday, Putin also rejected the suggestion that if she were a woman, she would not have invaded Ukraine, as Johnson suggested. Putin noted the decision of former British leader Margaret Thatcher to send troops to the Falklands four decades ago.
“So a woman decided to start hostilities. Where are these Falkland Islands and where is Britain? And that was dictated by nothing less than imperial ambitions, confirmation of their imperial status,” Putin said.
“It is therefore not a completely accurate reference from the British Prime Minister to what is happening today.”
Putin added: “No one remembered anything about the military operations in the Falkland Islands in relation to military actions in Ukraine.”
Putin also said on Thursday that Russia is open to dialogue on “ensuring strategic stability” and nuclear non-proliferation, and “improving the situation in the field of arms control.”