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​Former White House Photographer Posts Photo Of ‘Young Putin Spying On Reagan’

​Former White House Photographer Posts Photo Of ‘Young Putin Spying On Reagan’

Pete Souza shared the photo, claiming it showed the Russian president in a very different role

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

A former White House photographer has shared a photo from 1988, which he claims to be a young Vladimir Putin 'spying' on US President Ronald Reagan.

Pete Souza has photographed presidents such as Ronald Regan and Barack Obama during his career, having shared an old snap from his earlier days on Instagram.

He captioned the photo: "A Putin mystery. Or not.⁣⁣"

Souza went on to explain that he had photographed Regan during his visit to Moscow back in 1988, when Mikhail Gorbachev - leader of what was then known as the Soviet Union - gave the US leader a tour of Red Square.

A group of 'tourists' - or, as Souza speculates, possibly 'KGB agents' - had been positioned around the square, including a young man that he believes may be Putin.

"Note the man on the left with the camera around his neck," he said.

Instagram/Pete Souza

In 1993, Souza published a book of photographs called Unguarded Moments from his tenure at the White House during the Regan administration.

He said: "Some ten years later, I received a random letter in the mail from someone who asked if I knew I had captured a picture of Reagan and Vladimir Putin as shown on page 145 in my book. (Putin had by then become the President of Russia). I was astounded by this letter.⁣⁣

"I contacted both the Reagan Library and a NSC official in the Bush 43 administration. No one could definitively say whether it was Putin. In 1988, Putin was in fact in the KGB, though he was apparently stationed in East Germany.⁣⁣"

Souza continued: "In January 2009, I was hired as the chief WH photographer for President Obama. A few days before the inauguration, I did an interview with Steve Inskeep of NPR [National Public Radio].

"I was telling this story as an example of how the relevance of presidential photos can change over time. 'And as soon as you see the photo you go, Oh, my gosh, it really is him (Putin),' were my exact words. A big mistake; I never should have said that, because in fact it had never been verified.⁣⁣

Ronald Reagan with Mikhail Gorbachev at the White House in 1987.
PA

"The Kremlin apparently listens to NPR and almost immediately denied it was Putin.⁣⁣

"About a month after the NPR interview, I received a postcard to my home address. The Red Square photo was on the front of the postcard.

"The man in the camera was circled with a red marker, and someone had written the word 'spy' and drawn an arrow to the man. I turned the postcard over to the Secret Service; nothing ever came of it.⁣⁣

"In July of 2009, President Obama traveled to Russia and met with Putin at his dacha.

"No Russian official ever said anything to me, though Robert Gibbs had teased me that I would be detained. And I was able to make the second photo shown here, which I can say is definitely Vladimir Putin on the right.⁣"

Could it be that Putin is indeed holding the camera in this pic? Can't see him confirming that any time soon, to be honest.

However, some people mistakenly thought Souza was suggesting the young boy in the photo was Putin, with one writing: "Putin is now 68; this boy couldn't be older than 11 or 12."

Others seemed convinced, with one comment reading: "Well, the ears are very similar, it could definitely be him."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, US News, vladimir putin

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