In 1988, President Ronald Raegan visited Moscow to meet Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. A year later, the Soviet Union would begin to crumble. Berlin would be reunited, and Eastern Europe freed from the communist regime, marking the end of the Cold War.
During the visit, Pete Souza, the president's official photographer who would later work for President Obama, took a photo of Raegan as he was walking through the streets of the Kremlin.
The picture remained unpublished until it surfaced on the web in 2009. It immediately grabbed the attention of the international press.
At first glance, the picture appears ordinary. The image shows Ronald Raegan shaking hands with many regular Moscow citizens in the Red Square while Soviet officials stand around in identical gray suits.
In the background, the Kremlin can be appreciated looming on the horizon. In a striped shirt and khaki pants, immediately behind the boy stands a young man with sandy blonde hair and a camera around his neck.
A closer look reveals that this mysterious and yet to be officially identified man bears a striking resemblance to Vladimir Putin, the current President of Russia.
Putin's press spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has vehemently denied that the man in the photo was Russia's future head of state. Souza himself, however, has pointed out that the man could be Putin during his youth.
He explained that some of the tourists Reagan met when he took the photo were asking oddly pointed questions about his human rights record. It made little sense until a Secret Service agent told him that they were all KGB families.
The Putin theory may indeed be true despite the denials. Putin was serving as a junior spy for the KGB in Dresden, East Germany, when the photo was taken. It is believed he may have received the particular assignment for Reagan's visit…
During the visit, Pete Souza, the president's official photographer who would later work for President Obama, took a photo of Raegan as he was walking through the streets of the Kremlin.
The picture remained unpublished until it surfaced on the web in 2009. It immediately grabbed the attention of the international press.
At first glance, the picture appears ordinary. The image shows Ronald Raegan shaking hands with many regular Moscow citizens in the Red Square while Soviet officials stand around in identical gray suits.
In the background, the Kremlin can be appreciated looming on the horizon. In a striped shirt and khaki pants, immediately behind the boy stands a young man with sandy blonde hair and a camera around his neck.
A closer look reveals that this mysterious and yet to be officially identified man bears a striking resemblance to Vladimir Putin, the current President of Russia.
Putin's press spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has vehemently denied that the man in the photo was Russia's future head of state. Souza himself, however, has pointed out that the man could be Putin during his youth.
He explained that some of the tourists Reagan met when he took the photo were asking oddly pointed questions about his human rights record. It made little sense until a Secret Service agent told him that they were all KGB families.
The Putin theory may indeed be true despite the denials. Putin was serving as a junior spy for the KGB in Dresden, East Germany, when the photo was taken. It is believed he may have received the particular assignment for Reagan's visit…
- Category
- Unexplained Mysteries
- Tags
- mystery, unsolved, unresolved
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