A Russian woman appears to be present in various roles in at least five images of Vladimir Putin, most recently during his New Year’s message head of the Kremlin.

Vladimir Putin’s seagull is most likely a bodyguardPhoto: Oleksiy Druzhinin / Sputnik / Profimedia

Netizens nicknamed her “Natasha”, and she is the object of ironies in social networks.

“In Putin’s New Year’s speech, ‘Russian soldiers’ appear (referring to people from his security service who were instructed to pretend to be soldiers). Here are shots from the many and varied roles that Natasha played when Putin had to appear next to “normal citizens”. “Natasha! Time to be a fisherman!” – Jason Jay Smart, an American political adviser and special correspondent of the Kyiv Independent, wrote on Twitter.

“How selfless is this woman from Putin’s security who poses in his photos, who quit her job and joined the Russian armed forces,” Kevin Rothrock, director of the Meduza website, known for its investigations into the Kremlin regime, wrote on the social network.

Anton Gerashchenko, a Ukrainian adviser to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, also posted several images of “Natasha”, pointing to other men, also likely bodyguards, who appear in several roles alongside Vladimir Putin.

“This coward, as usual, made a video clip with fake soldiers,” Gerashcheko added.