'Would've been disgusting': Putin hits back at G7 leaders mocking his bare chested photo

Russian President Vladimir Putin has hit back to G7 leaders who earlier mocked his “tough man” image. Answering a reporter at the 2022 Summit of the Caspian States in Ashgabat, he advised his colleagues to be “sensible", but said that it was ‘understandable' amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. Earlier on Sunday, G7 leaders including US president Joe Biden and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau ridiculed Putin’s ‘bare chested’ ride on a horse during his vacation in Siberia.

On Wednesday, the Russian President was in Turkmenistan's capital of Ashgabat to attend the summit of 5 Caspian states namely- Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan. At the same conference, a reporter asked, “G-7 summit in Germany was held under the sign 'How to punish Russia more painfully', with jokes about your, excuse me, shirtless photo. Everyone there joked. Prime Minister of Canada said: 'Let's take off our jackets, we'll be cooler than Putin.' Did you happen to discuss anything like this here at the Caspian summit?”

To this Putin quipped, “I don’t know how they wanted to undress, to the waist or below the waist, but I think that it would have been a disgusting sight in any case." He further said that the leader's clouds have been “sensible." However, he asserted that it was “understandable” given the ongoing situation in Ukraine. 

Putin said, “The colleagues you mentioned, I know all of them personally, we are not having the best period of our relations, this is understandable.." He noted, that those who passed such remarks "are all leaders, which means they can have character. And if they want, they will certainly achieve the desired success." 

World leaders mock Putin

UK PM Boris Johnson, US President Joe Biden, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and European Union (EU) President Ursula von der Leyen were gathered for the G7 summit in Germany. Johnson greeted his colleagues, quickly following with "Jackets on or off? Should we keep it on or off, should we take our clothes off...we have to show that we are tougher..." 

In response, Trudeau quipped, "Yeah, bare-chested horseback riders" in reference to the hugely unpopular picture of Putin snapped without proper clothing for a hack in the Russian mountains. "We've got to display our pecs," Johnson chimed, while the others giggled at the soft mockery. The EU President couldn't hold back either, adding to the gentlemen's comments, she interjected "horseback riding is the best!"

(Image: AP)