Putin with a Zenit!!
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Printed on: 5/14/2026 4:18:26 PM
Topic
Topic author: Vlad
Posted on: 20090407151657
Replies
Reply author: Zoom
Replied on: 20090407185250
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="MS Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Vlad</i>
<br />Apparently it's Vladimir Putin of KGB at the time, disguised as a tourist carrying a Zenit-E when Reagan came to visit Russia.
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Oh, no...
Welcome to the real world:
http://pic.ipicture.ru/uploads/090328/5LWO5fV7y2.jpg
1 - Dmitry Medvedev, 2 - Igor Shuvalov, 3 - Joseph Stalin, 4 - Vladimir Putin, 5 - Nickolay Patrushev, 6 - Boris Nemtsov, 7 - Victor Shernomyrdin, 8 - Sergey Lavrov, 9 - Mikhail Saakashvili, 10 - Valeria Novodvorskaya, 11 - Victor Khristenko, 12 - Sergey Kirienko, 13 - Sergey Ivanov.
The full description who is who is there:
http://www.inoforum.ru/inostrannaya_pressa/rossiya/strashnaya_tajna_odnoj_fotografii/;)
Reply author: Luiz Paracampo
Replied on: 20090407191129
This same picture appeared lastweek in a newspaper in Rio de Janeiro.
Camrade Putin has a Zenit E hanging in his neck and also a Leningrad 4 exposure meter. What that means? The exposure meter of Zenit was not working propery... or the exposure meter was a disguided transmitter?
Regards LP
Reply author: Zoom
Replied on: 20090407195338
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="MS Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Luiz Paracampo</i>
<br />Camrade Putin has a Zenit E hanging in his neck and also a Leningrad 4 exposure meter. What that means?
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Ich bin protestieren!
This is not a "camrade Putin" (At all. He have another nose, for example)...
And I don't confident that it is Zenit-E...
Reply author: Luiz Paracampo
Replied on: 20090407201101
At that time you (and me) were not yet born....
the camera could be a Zenit EM also why not?
LP
Reply author: Vlad
Replied on: 20090407205108
LOL.. I kind of agree with Zoom though when I was posting it, [:)] that is why I said "apparently" [:)]. It does look a bit like him but it's probably not. I found it funny enough to post here.. And the reason I said Zenit-E because it seemed to me that it sports I-50 pancake lens, AFAIK these were only bundled with E. Still a cool photo to see one of Soviet cameras in the same photo as Reagan at least... [:D]
Vlad.
Reply author: Bull Halsey
Replied on: 20090408023053
I think to complete the look, Putin should have worn a pair of bermuda shorts, a pair of black socks, and a nice pair of black wing tip shoes. Then he could look like a true tourist.
Steve
Reply author: Michel
Replied on: 20090408112923
I am very puzzled………
The photo of Medvedev looks a bit like Vlad's Avatar [?][?][?]
The truth is elsewhere !!
[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]
Oh ehh, sorry, Vlad.[:I][:I]
Reply author: Vlad
Replied on: 20090408113738
heheh.. why sorry? It's not me on my avatar, I've found that guy in the magazine that Juhani posted some time ago, I thought the character was pretty funny so I used it.. but yes Medvedev on that photo does look like that guy... hehehhe.. what is up with the goofy sunglasses? [:D].
Reply author: fedka
Replied on: 20090408222803
Putin or not, but that "Zenit" tourist IS a KGB officer for sure. Nobody will argue about it, even Zoom:-)
The camera does look like a Zenit-E. It can be other Zenit, but statistically it has to be -E.
Oh, and I bet there is a F-21 hidden inside it, lol.
Reply author: Bull Halsey
Replied on: 20090409003315
My thoughts exactly, Yuri.
There has to be a F-21 stuck in that Zenit. Why? I don't know, but it does seem more KGBish rather than to just leave it with the obvious Zenit.
BTW, what camera would give you the better shot?
:-)
Steve
Reply author: Zoom
Replied on: 20090409093846
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="MS Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by fedka</i>
<br />Putin or not
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Absolutely: not. He was in the East Germany at that time. This man have another nose, another haircut...
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="MS Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by fedka</i>
<br />but that "Zenit" tourist IS a KGB officer for sure. Nobody will argue about it, even Zoom:-)
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Of course, I don't agree with this position. Or you think that the boy is from KGB too? ;) Or only KGB officers have a rights to ramble on the Red Square? 8)
This walk was spontaneous, as I remember...
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="MS Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by fedka</i>
<br />The camera does look like a Zenit-E. It can be other Zenit...
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Yes: looks like, very much like. But this shot is too small...
Reply author: fedka
Replied on: 20090409234411
The boy is not a KGB, though I am pretty sure he was checked thoroughly - all the way back to his grandparents.
On thing about the USSR - there was very little spontaneity when it came to a US President walking on the Red Square. Especially Reagan. Nothing was left to chance.
Roads were cleared blocks away from a government motorcade.
When Gorbachev flew from Moscow to Leningrad all planes in the entire European part (and maybe beyond) of the USSR were grounded (I was sitting in on of these planes)for 2 hours in Odessa waiting for Gorbachev's plane to land in Leningrad).
I do not want to sound paranoid, but this is how it was.
Look at the Red Square on the background, It is empty! Just a couple of security guys in sunglasses. How often did you see Red Square empty?
The tourist is not Putin, but he is a KGB officer, I would bet on it. Look how fit the guy is.
And the picture looks pretty staged too. Everybody is facing the camera, and the photographer had unobstructed view. I bet they even placed people such that they are hit but direct sunlight to get a sure shot.
No Zoom, this is not spontaneous. Well prepared event.
Reply author: mermoz37
Replied on: 20090410033706
so...for me it is a joke...
just one thing : why number 7 was not designed as Gorbatchev ???
[:)][:)][:)]
Reply author: Zoom
Replied on: 20090410040001
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="MS Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by fedka</i>
<br />The tourist is not Putin, but he is a KGB officer
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Ha-ha... Look to his lightmeter. Why he use this lightmeter if his camera has it? Because on his presumable Zenit-E the lightmeter was died (selenium... you know). It's only one explanation for this mystery. So, he was a real photoamateur, his camera was not a 'false front'. A real RGB-agent was not needed in an additional lightmeter...
Sorry to my past tenses... :(
Reply author: Vlad
Replied on: 20090410091940
or maybe that's part of the disguise.. put as much photo-related stuff on your neck as you can so people think you are an amateur photographer.. [:D]
Vlad
Reply author: Vlad
Replied on: 20090410093413
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="MS Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by fedka</i>
Oh, and I bet there is a F-21 hidden inside it, lol.
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LOL!!!! HEHHEHEHHEHEHEE..
Reply author: fedka
Replied on: 20090410131950
Good point about the meter, Zoom. It is silly.
Must be a miniature tape recorder or some other spy gadget:-)
A Zenit E,or any Zenit with a meter would probably have a working meter. In the 1980's it would not be that old, and those Selenium meters worked OK. My Zenit-E made in 1979 still has a good meter.
In pre-Zenit-E times photographers did have light meters on their necks. So what we have here is a blunder by KGB - they used wrong props.
This is what happened:
-Major Pertov, you are to play a random tourist on Red Square when Gorbachev and Reagan spontaneously stop there.
-Yes sir! But, Colonel Sidorov, what disguise do I use?
-Wear a polo shirt, slacks, a camera, and... what was that thing I saw people wearing next to the cameras, 20 years ago, in the 60's when I was a lieutenant spying on foreigners on the Red Square?
-A light meter, sir!
-Good, so you wear it too.
-Yes, sir!
LOL, I just noticed - the guy behind "Putin" wears Adidas snickers. And the guy in the middle has two (!) badges. And next to his head you can see the old Moskva hotel, which is pictured on every Stolichnaya bottle. This picture provides hours of entertainment:-)