Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday shot back at Western leaders who mocked his athletic exploits, saying they would look “disgusting” if they tried to emulate his bare-torso appearances.
Putin made the comment during a visit to Turkmenistan early yesterday when asked about Western leaders joking about him at the G7 summit.
As they sat down for talks, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson jested that G7 leaders could take their clothes off to “show that we’re tougher than Putin” amid Russia-West tensions over Moscow’s military action in Ukraine.
Photo: AFP
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joked that Western leaders could try to match Putin’s naked torso pictures with a “bare-chested horseback riding display,” one of his widely publicized athletic adventures.
Speaking to reporters, Putin retorted that, unlike him, Western leaders abuse alcohol and do not do sports.
“I don’t know how they wanted to get undressed, above or below the waist,” he said. “”But I think it would be a disgusting sight in any case.”
He added that to look good “it’s necessary to stop abusing alcohol and other bad habits, do physical exercise and take part in sports.”
Putin also rejected Johnson’s charge that if he were a woman he would not have invaded Ukraine, pointing to former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s decision to send troops into the Falklands as a rebuttal of Johnson’s theory.
Johnson on Wednesday dubbed Putin’s decision to launch what Moscow calls a “special military operation” against Ukraine a “perfect example of toxic masculinity” and mocked Putin’s macho posturing.
Hitting back, Putin told reporters: “I just want to recall the events of recent history, when Margaret Thatcher decided to launch military operations against Argentina for the Falkland Islands. So, a woman took the decision to launch military action.”
“Therefore it’s not an entirely accurate reference from the British prime minister to what is happening today,” he said.
Putin went on to criticize Britain’s move, 40 years ago, to respond militarily to Argentina’s attempt to seize the sparsely populated British-run islands in the South Atlantic.
“Where are the Falkland Islands and where is Britain?” Putin asked. “Thatcher’s actions were dictated by nothing less than imperial ambitions and [a desire to] confirm their imperial status.”
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