OF THE
TIMES
The Russian president was hosting a group women at the presidential palace in Moscow to celebrate International Woman's Day. However, Putin's aides forgot to tell the invited group not to wear high-heels, leaving several of the guests towering over the Russian leader - who is famously self-conscious about his height. A Kremlin insider said strict rules dictate no one can be taller than the president - who is believed to be between 5ft 2" and 5ft 5" - in official photos.SOTT.net can confirm that this insider was subsequently ferreted out by the FSB and is currently serving time in Putin's personal secret gulag, where he is forced daily to repeat the phrase, "President Putin is the greatest and tallest leader the world has ever known." Our own Russian sources tell us that the women photographed with the Russian president have not been seen since the unfortunate event. Their whereabouts remain unknown - even to our highly-placed sources within the Kremlin. Only Putin knows their fate.
"That's why his bodyguards are always shorter then [sic] he is, to give the impression Putin is a tall person," the source revealed. However that diktat appears to have been ignored in the most recent images of Putin, which show a handful of the 14 invited women dressed smartly but with accompanying high heels. According to the insider, the women were told to bend down during the photo call to make Putin appear slightly taller.
"They were told to try and squat down a little bit during the official photo session," the source said. They added: "Fourteen women were selected and invited to the Kremlin to take part in the official meeting with [the] president. In line with Kremlin rules, no one can be taller than he is to avoid causing embarrassment in pictures and video."
Comment: During the Cold War, the West could blame an Iron Curtain for the USSR's isolation (even though, like today, Western leaders themselves first imposed it).
Today, the technocrats running the Western system have reconstituted this isolation, but because the Russian Federation is effectively as open as most countries, they have to scheme a LOT harder to make Russia (seem) isolated.
Butina is being punitively subjected to additional solitary prison-time despite the flimsiest of charges brought against her. She never made any secret of her activities. She was a gun 'enthusiast' who wanted to advocate for gun rights in her home country, so who better to talk to than the NRA?
Butina, in fact, was working to export the US gun lobby model to her home country, something that should - if Americans believe their own narratives - have been promoted, not punished.
Moralizing over her relationship with an older man is the height of hypocrisy, especially in an amoral place like Washington, DC. Her treatment while imprisoned was deplorable, and now she faces more of the same. Still, the US feels it can rub Russia's nose in it...
Butina made a tearful plea for leniency, and begs for mercy. The judge sentenced her anyway.
Her lawyer, Robert Driscoll, said that Butina was arrested and smeared for no other reason than her nationality: He appeared on RT today to voice his concern for his client, and the potential blow-back this precedent sets up for Americans caught up in copy-cat entrapment schemes abroad:
The Russian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement: Russia 'loses' to the US, again, but Truth, as usual, remains on Russia's side.