President Obama’s official chief White House photographer, Pete Souza, was also President Reagan’s official photographer. According to Souza, this photo taken of Reagan in Red Square shows what appears to be a young Vladimir Putin posing as a tourist during his time in the KGB.
In an interview with NPR,
Souza recounts a story from a trip to Russia with Reagan. He shot photos of Reagan as the president toured Moscow’s Red Square with then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev introduced Reagan to various tourists, who asked the American president pointed questions about subjects such as human rights in the United States. Souza says he remembers turning to one of the Secret Service agents standing nearby. “I can’t believe these tourists in the Soviet Union are asking these pointed questions.” The agent replied, “Oh, these are all KGB families.”
The photo was posted on Foreign Policy’s blog FP, though Ed Morrisey expresses some doubts on Hot Air. We report, you decide.
Comments are closed.