- Vladimir Putin was seen wearing earmuffs in a bizarre way
- They were placed above his chin instead of his hair
- Critics said he did this to avoid messing up his thinning hair
Autocrat Vladimir Putin was ridiculed for wearing his ear protection backwards during a visit to a Chechen shooting range so as not to ruffle his thinning hair.
The dictator was seen at a shooting range with Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, a close political and military ally, during a surprise visit to the region, which many believed was intended to shore up support in the face of Ukraine’s incursion into Russian soil.
But unlike Kadyrov, who wore his hearing protection over his head, the Russian president wore it over his chin.
Well-known Russian blogger Rustem Adagamov wrote: “(Putin’s) The hairdresser has to style the sparse hair in such a way that it is not visible that the Russian president is already completely bald.
“And headphones would ruin all the beauty.”
Autocrat Vladimir Putin (pictured left) was ridiculed for wearing his earmuffs backwards during a visit to a Chechen shooting range.
He was accused of doing this to avoid ruffling his thinning hair
A man rides his bicycle past the rubble of a multi-story building destroyed in an attack in the town of Myrnohrad a few days earlier on August 21, 2024.
Putin has increased his military support in recent days as Ukraine opened a second front in Russia.
A Russian official said Russian forces prevented a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance team from breaking through the border in the western Bryansk region, about 240 kilometers from the site of the Ukrainian incursion into the neighboring Kursk region.
Russia said on Wednesday that its forces had advanced into eastern Ukraine and begun pushing back Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region, but a senior commander warned that Ukrainian forces were regrouping for another possible attack.
Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomas said Federal Security Service border guards and Russian military units repelled an attack by a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance team on Wednesday.
He said the incursion attempt took place in Klimovo district, which borders Ukraine’s Chernihiv region. Bryansk region lies northwest of Kursk region, where a Ukrainian incursion has been underway since early August.
Putin was in Chechnya to increase military support
He visited a shooting range with Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov (pictured right)
Putin’s visit came amid increasing Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil
On August 6, Ukraine broke through the Russian border in the Kursk region to force Moscow to withdraw its troops from the rest of the front. However, in recent days, Russian forces have advanced further into eastern Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had shot down 28 drones over Russian territory, including 13 in the Volgograd region, seven in Rostov, four in Belgorod, two in Voronezh and one each in the Bryansk and Kursk regions.
A fire broke out at a military facility in the southern Russian region of Volgograd on Thursday after a Ukrainian drone crashed into it, the region’s governor, Andrei Bocharov, said via the messaging service Telegram.
Bocharov said there were no casualties and did not give details about which facility was attacked. However, he said the attack was focused on the area of the village of Marinovka, where a military base is located.
The aviation regulator Rosaviatsia said that temporary restrictions were imposed at Volgograd airport on Thursday and that no more aircraft were allowed to be received or departed.
