Russian President Vladimir Putin takes an icy dive to mark Epiphany

Russian President Vladimir Putin takes an icy dive to mark Epiphany

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The footage shows the 68-year-old walking out of a wooden house wearing a long sheepskin coat, uprooted three times and immersed in a cross-shaped pool crowned with an ice-cut Crucifixion statue.

The temperature in the Moscow region last week was about -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit).

Epiphany Day is celebrated on January 19 to commemorate the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River. On Epiphany, water is considered sacred, and many people across Russia and Eastern Europe take a dive as a sign of their Orthodox Christian faith.

Why Putin wants to keep Navalny locked up

It is widely believed that tradition brings good health, hardens the immune system and washes away sins.

Putin’s photo shoot comes as Russia incites vaccination efforts and brings his coronavirus outbreak under control, and days after his political rival Alexei Navalny was arrested on his return to Moscow.

Putin’s blue swimsuits in the footage were spotted on Russian social media, given their resemblance to the missing blue underwear allegedly used last year to poison Navalny with nerve agent Novichok.

Navalny told CNN that he was sure Putin knew about an extensive shadow operation by elite agents before he was poisoned. The Kremlin has previously denied involvement in Navalny’s poisoning.
Putin’s icy dive is not the first time he has been publicly stripped. In 2018, he bathed in the icy waters of Lake Seliger to mark Epiphany. He was also photographed topless in 2017 while fishing and bare-chested when he rode a horse in 2009.

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