Fishermen, Merchants, Soldiers... The Mystery of the Woman Beside Putin Whose Appearance Changes

Photos with Putin Appearing Over Several Years
Same Face but Different Names and Jobs
"Hired Actor, Secret Bodyguard" Speculations Abound

On the 31st of last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded a medal to Anna Sydorenko, a military medic in the Ukraine war.
[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Attention is focused on the identity of a woman who has appeared for years in photos taken with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to the New York Post and others on the 2nd (local time), the blonde woman introduced as a female military medic of the Russian army during President Putin's 2023 New Year's address has been reported to have appeared multiple times in photos under different names in the past.

President Putin delivered a national New Year's address on the 31st of last month at the military district headquarters in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. At this event, a woman named Anna Sidorenko was praised as a female military medic of the Russian army, and a photo taken with her was released.

However, this woman appeared under different names and appearances in photos taken with President Putin in 2016 and 2017.

In September 2016, President Putin took a photo with local fishermen at a lake in the Novgorod region. A woman with the same face appeared in the photo, and at that time, her name was reported to be Larisa Sergukina.

In 2017, a photo was released showing President Putin attending an Eastern Orthodox Christmas service at a monastery in the same region. At that time, this woman was introduced as a local parishioner with the same name. Two other fishermen from the 2016 photo also appeared as parishioners, leading to speculation that they were actors mobilized for the photo shoot.

Moreover, the woman was photographed twice, in 2017 and 2019, selling ice cream to President Putin at the Moscow Air Show.

Notably, in 2019, it was reported that President Putin paid this woman 4,000 rubles (about 70,000 won) for ice cream and said, "Give the change to the Minister of Aviation for the development of Russian aviation." This was interpreted as Putin disguising a secret bodyguard to show a close relationship with the public.

As this woman appeared again at the 2023 New Year's event, foreign media focused on her identity. Clarissa Ward, a CNN reporter, said, "I wonder if this woman is simply an actress used for photos or if there is another reason she needs to be close to Putin."

Jason Smart, a Kyiv correspondent for Ukraine, claimed, "This woman is an actress, and others appearing in the New Year's Eve photos are also actors, not actual soldiers." However, Julian Roke, a reporter for Germany's Bild, stated, "Russian media say these two women are not the same person," adding, "Judge for yourselves."