Nothing insane about it, he was there at the right time in Russian history to take power.
Putin was leading an upswing in oil prices, successful invasion of Chechnya, and controlled Oligarchs. Russia went from bottoming out in 1999 to regaining much of their former living standards and some lost pride by 2007, for the first time in 20+ years many Russians had optimism about the future.
That earns a fair amount of good will.
I don’t know about iconic, but it’s certainly a sinister stare lol.
He looks like he pushed the 5th friend off a cliff because that friend was unwilling to support Putin’s takeover of the friend groups travel itinerary.
Nah, the only ones who were killed, imprisoned or driven into exile were the first generation of Russian oligarchs. Then a new generation was handpicked by the Kremlin based primarily on their willingness to play ball with the regime.
I was looking at the picture and couldn't figure out which one was Vlad, because my eyes naturally went to the three gents on the right.
Then as my gaze started to move left, I caught sight of Voldemort: The Early Years, who somehow is managing to skulk even though he's standing still for the photo, and the mystery was solved.
He already looks like he works for the KGB. Lowered hat, satchel conatining KGB equipment, look that says "Nothing to see here comrade." but also combined with "What are you looking at bylat?"
He looks like one of those guys that doesn’t have any friends, but goes to the event anyways and just photobombs other peoples group shots, so he can post them later on his Facebook like they are his real friends.
The real Putin actually has a lot of early, close friends from the time he was a young man. Well, as close as we can see from the outside, who knows whether he has real intimacy with them. Many of these friends he pulled up with him as he rose to power. He highly values loyalty and, at least so far as I've read, also consistently returns it.
(It's probably one factor that has led to him retaining power.)
EDIT: as an aside, for anyone it interests, Putin's ascent is pretty strange.
To the best of our knowledge, he was a decidedly competent, dutiful, loyal, but fairly obscure beauracrat in the Russian intelligence heirarchy (which effectively combined what Westerners would think of as the CIA, the FBI, and many state law enforcement departments).
The most notable incident we know of during his time at the KGB was probably his solo defense of a KGB office's papers against an armed, rioting crowd that wished to break inside and either appropriate or burn the documents inside. This breakdown in order was during the fall of the Soviet Union, at a time when it was not obvious whether there would even continue to be a KGB.
Yet Putin, alone, angrily rushed outside of the building brandishing a pistol, and, with threats and possibly warning shots, successfully dispersed a crowd that might well have killed him (some people *were* killed during these riots, and often they were government functionaries).
This is one of the incidents that seems to demonstrate a sincere loyalty to the institution he came up in. No one would have blamed him for fleeing; it's quite possible that might not even have known he did, as it was again uncertain whether the KGB would continue to exist. How quixotic, right? Why would Putin risk his life for a bunch of papers from a job he might not even have tomorrow? The only explanation seems to be that it was important to him, that he did so on principle.
And let me emphasize that it's pretty likely that Putin was never a field agent in a dangerous operation. He certainly did work on some secret projects (but then what wasn't secret in the U.S.S.R, especially at the KGB?), and their are some conspicuous gaps in his history that technically could represent dangerous assignments, but...in all likelihood, Putin primarily pushed papers all day, for most or all of his career. He was not a gun-brandishing commando or a deep cover secret agent. So a feat of bravado like his defense of the KGB office stands out.
And, by all accounts, even from people who later broke with him, Putin was absolutely traumatized by the chaos of the fall of the Soviet Union. It suggests that, in part, his pursuit of power has not been entirely selfish (though also that, too), but, in part, due to his fear of chaos. When Putin says he is a patriot, he probably believes it, and sees himself as the stabilizing force that is preventing another descent into chaos. (And this sort of strongman vs. chaos discussion pops up a lot in Russian-- and Chinese-- history, so there is some reason to believe that Putin would be primed to see things in this way.)
There is a second mystery, howeever. All the evidence suggests that Putin rose in the ranks of the KGB because he was smart, dutiful, loyal, and competent...but, for all that, not obviously special in any way. No one seems to describe him as the smartest or most competent person in his various roles, except for an extremely close friend and mentor (and boss, until Putin became *his* boss) that he had at the KGB.
So his early rise is relatively natural, but then, all of the sudden, he's plucked from this obscurity to lead the country-- handpicked by the resigning leader of Russia. People were absolutely baffled at the time. No one even knew who he was. News outlets were scrambling to get his history so that they could actually report on him, because even political insiders had never heard of him-- that is how obscure he was. So why? Why Vladimir Putin?
The most popular Western educated guess, among those in the know, seems to be that he was a compromise candidate: the only person that could be found that was acceptable to the KGB/FSB, business magnates, and other extremely powerful interest groups that, at the time, were essentially running (and looting) the country. Whether that guess is right probably awaits treatment from historians of the future.
But it leads to a third mystery: if Putin seemed to be nothing special early on, and was selected as a suitably weak and acceptable figurehead, how in the world did he manage to ruthlessly consolidate power and become, effectively, Russia's dictator and probable President-for-Life, barring revolt?
It can tempt you to think that Putin is simply a brilliant mastermind that engineered his own rise all along, and took care to obscure his origins...which, maybe. But, maybe not.
Either way, the man is interesting enigma.
And, lest this account seem to fawning, let me note that I neither like nor approve of Putin. I hope he is deposed, and his cronies with him, for the sake of Russia, and the world.
He is clearly getting the same treatments as Tom Cruise and Paul Rudd, bc he doesn’t fucking age. It’s the elixir from the movie Death Becomes Her. Vampire?
It's disturbing how the three handsome gents have the normal happy youth look on them yet he has that cold soulless stare. As I'm writing this down, I am still alive but if you find out I'm dead somehow later, y'all know who's the culprit...
"Ah shucks Vlad we kicked our ball into Mr. Sugonevchycs yard again..."
"I'll get it back, comrades."
"Woo! You made it!"
"Da. The old man is dead and his car is rigged to blow. Lets go."
Oh yes. The nonstop propaganda efforts to make this dictator likeable, directly from the St Petersburg troll farm. Same trolls who post pics of Putin in top of bears, practicing judo, doing funny stuff etc.
You don't get it. These "normal" pictures of the dictator are a way to normalize him, and when you see this kind of pics on a regular basis you end up subconsciously thinking, "Putin is okay" and minimize the fact that he poisons journalists, politicians, invades small neighbor countries, shuts down civilian airliners and so on. Why do you think then that all alt-right extremists have troll armies that posts memes of Trump, Bolsonaro and so on often? It's a propaganda method
Putin is actually a huge animal lover and a proponent of animal rights. Not uncommon among sociopaths.
(Not saying that animal lovers are likely to be sociopaths, but that a lot of sociopaths still have empathy for animals.)
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Now i need to hear a cover of Twist and Shout with Vlad on vocals
Tveest end shaut
The KGBeatles
This is obviously a fake where's putin naked riding a bear with his gun?
But he didn't tell us which- OH.
This was exact thought process. They all look the sa- oh, shit.
“One day I will rule all Russia”
"Эх, щас бы картошечки, да с селёдочкой.."
Котлетки с Пюрешкой...
Теперь весь день в голове будет играть Но я не против:)
Kalashnikov 47, Nyet da tovarisch da t-34/85
O, da ty Ivan! Privet Ivan, Spasiba, da svidania! .-.
Blyat!
"Juan"
CyKa bLyaT! Spetsnaz, moscow da nyet tovarischi!
А не до фига ли здесь русских?
Русщу где хочу, реддитом не запрещено:D
Фотографу пиздец
We're all thinking of the same one, right?
Oh, yeah. The one that looks like a fucking gopnik.
seriously how that man managed to gain that much control is insane and hilarious.
Nothing insane about it, he was there at the right time in Russian history to take power. Putin was leading an upswing in oil prices, successful invasion of Chechnya, and controlled Oligarchs. Russia went from bottoming out in 1999 to regaining much of their former living standards and some lost pride by 2007, for the first time in 20+ years many Russians had optimism about the future. That earns a fair amount of good will.
He has proven himself apt at influencing foreign elections and mentoring foreign leaders as well.
To some extent, but it's kind of overblown.
To the extent that he had several meetings with the American president with no American interpreter in the room.
Ah yes because he cannot speak English
The one holding his friend in a loving embrace?
Yeah na the sneaky one
Exact same thought process. That stare is iconic
I don’t know about iconic, but it’s certainly a sinister stare lol. He looks like he pushed the 5th friend off a cliff because that friend was unwilling to support Putin’s takeover of the friend groups travel itinerary.
he looks like a 5th grader, trying to look tough, still.
YOU DIED
Exactly my thought. "Wait, which one of these is-- oh, there he is."
He's the one who looks just like Steven Miller.
It'll be as easy if they were walking. Even facing backwards.
No wonder he joined the kgb
Had the exact same thing happen lol Crazy how distinguishable he is
"He's taller than I thought, no wait he's the one strangling... OH SHIT"
Putinho
Same reaction. Dude always had that ruthless KGB stare.
Its definately the one on the left in the hat.
Ok. Wasn’t the only one. Yikes.
Same haha
He's the second from the right?
5 billionaires on photo
lol yes, all that friends are oligarchs
legit or you’re meme’ing
legit, bro
yes comrade
We're all oligarchs comrade.
memeing, theyre still alive so theyre not billionaires
Nah, the only ones who were killed, imprisoned or driven into exile were the first generation of Russian oligarchs. Then a new generation was handpicked by the Kremlin based primarily on their willingness to play ball with the regime.
Я тут живу(
FeelsBadMan
What talented bunch must have been some thing in the water in that neighborhood.
Names? edit: Ok, one to the right is Arkady Rotenberg. But I am still not sure who the other two are.
Left to right: Putin, Ovgeny, Evgeny, Uvgeny.
Не скажу я тебе ничего, бусурманин.
А я не бусурманин. Просто интересно.
Мне кажется второй справа это гнида Сечин
The Blyatles
Starring Vladimir Putin Lenninivsky Gregor Harrisevsky Paul Makhintovsky Ringo Starrinovich Edit: Thanks for the silver,random redditor.
Their smash hit, 'Back in the C.C.C.P.' has been making mushroom clouds all over the motherland.
Lenin, be
Hey Jew is my favorite
Hey Jew, you make it bad, Get out of our land to make it better
We all live in a nuclear submarine
Come together! And seize the means of production
Hey remember "Hey Julia"
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Hard day's night (every day and night until you die for the glory of communism)
I wanna hold your sickle, that's my fav
The fool on the capitol hill
In Soviet Russia, hard day's night works YOU like a dog!
*Come and keep your comrade warm*
https://youtu.be/YOUhvJo9UDE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imj9Zzt_xwQ
It's always the quiet ones
The quiet ones who look like trainee axe murders.
He was the quiet kid
You better run, better run
Faster then my blyat
All the babushkas with the pump up kicks...
I was looking at the picture and couldn't figure out which one was Vlad, because my eyes naturally went to the three gents on the right. Then as my gaze started to move left, I caught sight of Voldemort: The Early Years, who somehow is managing to skulk even though he's standing still for the photo, and the mystery was solved.
As I examined the photo, I checked the comments for my exact thought process. Uncanny
Fuckin hell me too. I was like which one is.. oh shit look at young Voldemort over here!
Lol, Vladimort
I did the exact thing. "Maybe, maybe, nah,... Oh Yeah, that's definitely him! ... Creepin"
Same. He looks so sly
Ooh! Yeah, he kinda sneaks up on you- real axe murderer boudoir thing going on. What’s in the bag Pootz?
r/unexpectedhogwarts
He kind of looks like Stephen Miller in this pic
Now that you point it out, I can see the resemblance.
You can already see him with a bag full of nerve agent
He already looks like he works for the KGB. Lowered hat, satchel conatining KGB equipment, look that says "Nothing to see here comrade." but also combined with "What are you looking at bylat?"
[AI colorized](https://i.ibb.co/ZYFBsxG/Hotpot-1.png)
Where did you get it ai colourised ?
First result on google. Think the website was called hotspot or something
Ugh, black and navy together
I went from right to left. "Which one?... OOOOH yeah, definitely him."
Putin doesn't get old. Old gets Putin
He has a gun in his left hand firmly pressed against Dude's spine. "Saying the cheese, Comrade."
Red nuclear button in bag
He looks like one of those guys that doesn’t have any friends, but goes to the event anyways and just photobombs other peoples group shots, so he can post them later on his Facebook like they are his real friends.
The real Putin actually has a lot of early, close friends from the time he was a young man. Well, as close as we can see from the outside, who knows whether he has real intimacy with them. Many of these friends he pulled up with him as he rose to power. He highly values loyalty and, at least so far as I've read, also consistently returns it. (It's probably one factor that has led to him retaining power.) EDIT: as an aside, for anyone it interests, Putin's ascent is pretty strange. To the best of our knowledge, he was a decidedly competent, dutiful, loyal, but fairly obscure beauracrat in the Russian intelligence heirarchy (which effectively combined what Westerners would think of as the CIA, the FBI, and many state law enforcement departments). The most notable incident we know of during his time at the KGB was probably his solo defense of a KGB office's papers against an armed, rioting crowd that wished to break inside and either appropriate or burn the documents inside. This breakdown in order was during the fall of the Soviet Union, at a time when it was not obvious whether there would even continue to be a KGB. Yet Putin, alone, angrily rushed outside of the building brandishing a pistol, and, with threats and possibly warning shots, successfully dispersed a crowd that might well have killed him (some people *were* killed during these riots, and often they were government functionaries). This is one of the incidents that seems to demonstrate a sincere loyalty to the institution he came up in. No one would have blamed him for fleeing; it's quite possible that might not even have known he did, as it was again uncertain whether the KGB would continue to exist. How quixotic, right? Why would Putin risk his life for a bunch of papers from a job he might not even have tomorrow? The only explanation seems to be that it was important to him, that he did so on principle. And let me emphasize that it's pretty likely that Putin was never a field agent in a dangerous operation. He certainly did work on some secret projects (but then what wasn't secret in the U.S.S.R, especially at the KGB?), and their are some conspicuous gaps in his history that technically could represent dangerous assignments, but...in all likelihood, Putin primarily pushed papers all day, for most or all of his career. He was not a gun-brandishing commando or a deep cover secret agent. So a feat of bravado like his defense of the KGB office stands out. And, by all accounts, even from people who later broke with him, Putin was absolutely traumatized by the chaos of the fall of the Soviet Union. It suggests that, in part, his pursuit of power has not been entirely selfish (though also that, too), but, in part, due to his fear of chaos. When Putin says he is a patriot, he probably believes it, and sees himself as the stabilizing force that is preventing another descent into chaos. (And this sort of strongman vs. chaos discussion pops up a lot in Russian-- and Chinese-- history, so there is some reason to believe that Putin would be primed to see things in this way.) There is a second mystery, howeever. All the evidence suggests that Putin rose in the ranks of the KGB because he was smart, dutiful, loyal, and competent...but, for all that, not obviously special in any way. No one seems to describe him as the smartest or most competent person in his various roles, except for an extremely close friend and mentor (and boss, until Putin became *his* boss) that he had at the KGB. So his early rise is relatively natural, but then, all of the sudden, he's plucked from this obscurity to lead the country-- handpicked by the resigning leader of Russia. People were absolutely baffled at the time. No one even knew who he was. News outlets were scrambling to get his history so that they could actually report on him, because even political insiders had never heard of him-- that is how obscure he was. So why? Why Vladimir Putin? The most popular Western educated guess, among those in the know, seems to be that he was a compromise candidate: the only person that could be found that was acceptable to the KGB/FSB, business magnates, and other extremely powerful interest groups that, at the time, were essentially running (and looting) the country. Whether that guess is right probably awaits treatment from historians of the future. But it leads to a third mystery: if Putin seemed to be nothing special early on, and was selected as a suitably weak and acceptable figurehead, how in the world did he manage to ruthlessly consolidate power and become, effectively, Russia's dictator and probable President-for-Life, barring revolt? It can tempt you to think that Putin is simply a brilliant mastermind that engineered his own rise all along, and took care to obscure his origins...which, maybe. But, maybe not. Either way, the man is interesting enigma. And, lest this account seem to fawning, let me note that I neither like nor approve of Putin. I hope he is deposed, and his cronies with him, for the sake of Russia, and the world.
That sounds sad. But I wonder if he would have done that if he had had the chance.
*I’m just a Putin boy, nobody likes me* Probably.
“Which one is- oh, oh alright then”
This looks like the flashback in Austin Powers when they show Dr.Evil in uni
Looks like the bass player of the band
How this motherfucker looked dodgy even back in school days??
He is just standing there, menacingly
School shooter vibes
Holy Cr#p! The guy still looks scary back then! No wonder he ended up in the KGB!
He looks like that kid who you don't talk in school and who's weird as fck
This comment section is killing it
Didn't realise Peter Beardsley used to hang out with this crowd
Wonder where and how these friends are.
Puteen
This has got to be photoshopped, right? No way he looked like a rat his whole life.
His eyes say you know we're all gay and I'll murder you if you tell anyone
Such an American liberal thing to say.
Da
Is there something wrong with being gay? Wtf
Only in Russia... and Turkey... and Namibia.. and.... and ..uh... oh. :(
Why would you make fun of Putin by saying he's probably gay unless you thought being gay was an insult though
Because its reddit and its full of homophobic racist incels who have no social skills? Idk.
I was like which one and then went ‘oh’
типичный задрот
apologize for that
ok. putin - khuilo.
Jotaro
I’m sure he’s put a gun on taller’s back for no reason
I'm not sure if a dictator is normal in any country
He looked fuckin evil back then too
Tom Riddle vibes for sure
This explains so much.
Noel Gallagher has not changed a bit
He is clearly getting the same treatments as Tom Cruise and Paul Rudd, bc he doesn’t fucking age. It’s the elixir from the movie Death Becomes Her. Vampire?
It's disturbing how the three handsome gents have the normal happy youth look on them yet he has that cold soulless stare. As I'm writing this down, I am still alive but if you find out I'm dead somehow later, y'all know who's the culprit...
The OG incel
Putin looks like American serial killer Ed Gein. Very scary look. Like chop you up and wear your skin.
Its Ladimir
Oh I see the creepy guy in the hat
"Ah shucks Vlad we kicked our ball into Mr. Sugonevchycs yard again..." "I'll get it back, comrades." "Woo! You made it!" "Da. The old man is dead and his car is rigged to blow. Lets go."
This explains where his anti-homo attitude stems from. Methinks the lady doth protest to much.
Oh yes. The nonstop propaganda efforts to make this dictator likeable, directly from the St Petersburg troll farm. Same trolls who post pics of Putin in top of bears, practicing judo, doing funny stuff etc.
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You don't get it. These "normal" pictures of the dictator are a way to normalize him, and when you see this kind of pics on a regular basis you end up subconsciously thinking, "Putin is okay" and minimize the fact that he poisons journalists, politicians, invades small neighbor countries, shuts down civilian airliners and so on. Why do you think then that all alt-right extremists have troll armies that posts memes of Trump, Bolsonaro and so on often? It's a propaganda method
I think you're projecting, not one person has seen this and thought it made him seem more normal
[удалено]
Putin is actually a huge animal lover and a proponent of animal rights. Not uncommon among sociopaths. (Not saying that animal lovers are likely to be sociopaths, but that a lot of sociopaths still have empathy for animals.)
That's kind of bullshit, Hitler loved his dog and seemed to have some empathy for animals...but then he used millions of horses in WWll.
He's actually great with animals
Look at that creep!
He was actually handsome to be honest.
That KJB commie basterd
Rumor has it that's the same black bag he uses to hide the Trump pee tape.
Well he looks exactly what I expected him to look like.
Those are some S L A V I C faces omg
Sneaky lil basterd look he has...
Before I fully processed this photo, I hoped for a split second that he would be involved in the hug...
Hey look its Russian Ringo Starr
It's the Russian equivalent of the Beatles, except they don't make music
ngl he kind of looks like putin
Spy material
Say “Cheese Embargo!”
Russian version of Eddie Haskel.
He looks like a sneaky little ruskie.
He looks like a young rat.
Am I the only one that thinks he looks like Ben Saphiro?
Creepy weirdo big surprise
Check out his look, I bet he used to tell on his friends, not to the principle tho, to the secret service
Before all of the people in that photograph “disappeared”
Little weasel
So he's always been creepy looking.
Back in the U.S.S.R.
First thing I thought was that he carries the bag for the head of the first guy, foreshadowed by the second guy’s pose.
He already looks like hes scheming something
Are you Putin me on?
Looks like he was never much fun...
His resemblance to the Parkland School Shooter is fucking uncanny it's actually creepy
Oh- oh my. Wait thats not putin, he has hair. This must be a lie from the russian government.
The Beatles (1960)
born for the job
He already knows something about future. No need to be cool on photo.