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Is Spy Putin Really in Photo With Reagan?

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posted: 233 DAYS 15 HOURS AGO
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(March 21) - Was Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin captured posing as a tourist, while serving as a KGB spy, in a photograph with former President Ronald Reagan?
The photo in question, taken years ago by the official chief White House photographer for Reagan, is causing an international stir -- all the more so because the photographer himself says it's Putin in the picture.
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The image was taken by photographer Pete Souza, who holds the same position under President Barack Obama. Reagan, escorted by then-soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev, is shaking a boy's hand in Moscow's Red Square. Several other people described as "tourists" are standing nearby.
In a January interview with National Public Radio (Hear Audio), Souza said he was struck at how the tourists in the photograph were asking questions of Reagan on serious subjects like human rights.
"And I remember saying to the Secret Service agent, 'I can't believe these tourists in the Soviet Union are asking these pointed questions,'" Souza told NPR. "And the Secret Service agent said to me, 'Oh these are all KGB families.'"
Souza goes on to describe a "tourist" in the photo with a camera around his shoulder.
"It's been pointed out to me and verified that that was Putin," Souza said.
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Vladimir Putin, Macho Man
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, no stranger to flaunting his athletic prowess, released a DVD on how to learn judo. The DVD, a collaboration with other judo experts, is called, 'Let's Learn Judo With Vladimir Putin.' Here, a man displays the DVD in October 2008 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Kiirill Kudrjavstev, AFP
Kiirill Kudrjavstev, AFP
Putin worked for the KGB Soviet intelligence agency from the mid-1970s until 1991, the time of the Soviet Union's collapse. But is that really him in the photo?
At least one expert, Russian political analyst Andrey Piontkovsky, dismisses the notion as "nonsense," the United Kingdom's Sky News reports.
"Vladimir Putin was a major serving in Dresden, and he wasn't important enough at that time to be brought to Moscow," Piontkovsky said.
The Axis Information and Analysis Web site argues that Putin has never had hair that thick. It also says the man in the photo is not wearing a watch on his right wrist as Putin does, but AOL News has recent photos of Putin with no watch on his right wrist.
And Souza seems to be convinced. "As soon as you see photo, you go, 'Oh my gosh, it really is him,'" he told NPR.
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Far-Out Photos
Garbage in, garbage out? A tourist snaps a street musician performing from inside a trash bin in Cambridge, England, Aug. 25.
Lefteris Pitarakis, AP
Lefteris Pitarakis, AP
2009 AOL LLC. All Rights Reserved.
2009-03-20 23:19:43

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BrianRby

08:15 PMApr 05 2009

No, it's not Valadya.

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BrianRby

08:14 PMApr 05 2009

No, it's not Valadya.

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(0)

Katerinacrone

04:11 AMMar 24 2009

When Chuck Norris goes to bed at night, he looks in his closet for Putin.

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Hccharles3

11:32 PMMar 24 2009

The fish looks like it's saying "Give Me Back Just A Little Fish."

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(2)

Hccharles3

11:30 PMMar 24 2009

Nah! That little boy looks like a very young John Hinckley,though. There was a Vladimir Putin look-alike contest at the same time. After Reagan boarded Airforce One, to go home, they started a Ronald Reagan look-alike contest, also. The winner yelled those familiar words"Mr. Bush, tear down this wall!"

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Hccharles3

11:25 PMMar 24 2009

Nah! That little boy looks like a very young John Hinckley,though. There was a Vladimir Putin look-alike contest at the same time. After Reagan boarded Airforce One, to go home, they started a Ronald Reagan look-alike contest, also. The winner yelled those familiar words"Mr. Bush, tear down this wall!"

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(1)

Kristopherjon

10:13 PMMar 24 2009

I am shure he could judo chop Obama with his right hand, and bitch slap GWB with his left , AT THE SAME TIME!

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Tonymnace

09:16 PMMar 24 2009

It's all right. W looked into his soul and said he was O.K. Nothing to worry about.

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Tonymnace

09:08 PMMar 24 2009

"Niners00702:35 PMMar 23 2009Anything to take the focus off Obama's mistakes."You are a real idiot. So this whole article and picture according to you is something cooked up by the "liberal media" to take the focus of Obama? Get a life!

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(1)

Chzyrider

05:44 PMMar 23 2009

The shape of the right ear and the upper bridge of the nose by the eyes in the comparison image does not match. With billions of people on this planet, it is not far-fetched to have a look-a-like.

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Was Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin captured posing as a tourist, while serving as a KGB spy, in a photograph with former President Ronald Reagan?