It’s easy to paint Russian leader Vladimir Putin with similar strokes to those of a power-hungry, merciless villain from an epic fantasy saga, because… well, it’s easy to do it.
Putin’s chilling reputation and unscrupulous struggle to first rise to the top seat of Russian politics, then ensure he stayed there by whatever means necessary, has made him about as infamous a world leader as there’s been this past century.
His past as a former KGB agent only adds to the sense of drama and mystery constantly swirling about the 72-year-old. Meanwhile, his ruthless track record in dealing with foes both foreign and domestic really can be admired if one is prepared to throw the lenses of morality and fairness directly in the trash.
It perhaps makes sense, then, that Putin steered Russia to invade Ukraine in 2022, instigating a bloody conflict that is now well into its third year.
Indeed, hope for a peaceful resolution has waned over the past few months, with Russia refusing to give up land that rightfully belongs to Ukraine, and Ukraine not willing to cede the territories stolen by Russia since the war began.
In a potentially historic meeting last week, Putin met US president Donald Trump in Alaska. The aim of the summit was to bring about a ceasefire that would undoubtedly save tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of lives.
The world waited with baited breath, and though no deal has been reached at the time of writing, Trump reported that he and Putin had made “great progress”.
In any case, the meet marked a crucial moment international politics, with Trump and Putin walking side-by-side down a red carpet towards a discussion that literally had the power to change the world.
While Trump attracted attention for seeming to walk in a zig-zag pattern after disembarking his aircraft, Putin, many observed, also strolled with a strange gait.
Footage of the two presidents shows the Russian leader with his left arm swinging in time with his steps while his right arm is mostly kept down by his side, with far less range of motion in evidence.
And there’s apparently a reason for the resulting odd gait, according to a team of experts. One study from a group of neurologists published back in 2015 labeled the unconventional way Putin walks – keeping one arm by his side as he does – the ‘gunslinger’s gait’.
The researchers claimed that the strange way of walking comes from KGB training – which Putin would have been put through – where a KGB manual outlined how to do this particular walk.
They explained: “According to this manual, KGB operatives were instructed to keep their weapon in their right hand close to their chest and to move forward with one side, usually the left, presumably allowing subjects to draw the gun as quickly as possible when confronted with a foe.”
The researchers also studied a number of other Russian figures, finding many of them walked with the so-called “gunslinger’s gait”, especially if they’d undergone KGB training in the past.
Putin worked for the KGB for 16 years before he stepped away in favor of politics.
The Russian president, it’s said, used his meeting with Trump to demand that Ukraine officially cede the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk to him. Trump, it’s reported, is set to meet with Ukrainian president Volodmyr Zelenskyy today (August 18).
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