Is the Dork on the Left Vladimir Putin?

Hamilton Nolan — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:51:16 EDT

Ha, Barack Obama's official photographer thinks he snapped this shot of a young Vladimir Putin standing there dressed like a big old nerd, ready to meet Ronald Reagan, 21 years ago in Moscow. Conspiracy?

The photographer Pete Souza says he's sure the goofy looking dude on the left with the camera around his neck and the blond hair is Putin (more recent pic here), while he was a KGB spy. The Russians deny it and are reportedly "furious" about the emergence of this picture for some reason, maybe because it proves that Vladimir Putin was once a big fan of John Ritter?
[Telegraph via VV]

Russian Dictator's Crony Props Up American Art Market

Sheila — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:11:53 EDT

Everyone was surprised when Lucian Freud's 1995 painting, "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping," fetched $33 million at a Christie's auction—way more than was predicted. The anonymous buyer, who also bought a Francis Bacon work at Sotheby's for $90 mil, turns out to be Roman Abramovich, the dubious Russian billionaire who is one of prime minister Vladimir Putin's closest pals. WTF did he get the cash? "In 1995 Abramovich, one of Putin's closest allies, paid a mere $100 million for [state oil company] Sifnet; ten years later, the government shelled out $13.7 billion for it - an astronomical sum and far above the going market rate," reports the Daily Mail. Putin had promised to share the proceeds of oil wealth with Russia's poor. He's sharing, all right—with rich billionaires and our art market—which surely needs the millions more than Russia's failing health and education system.

Gawker: putin

Is the Dork on the Left Vladimir Putin?

Russian Dictator's Crony Props Up American Art Market