18 March 2024 , 11:33
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Vladimir Putin "intentionally" tried to appear "overcome with emotion" during his speech after an unsurprising election win before he switched and showed the more "chilling" version of himself many are more familiar with, according to an expert.
The Russian President won his fifth term last night with a record number of votes, according to officials. It was a win that was never really in doubt, with only token opposition and harsh suppression by the state of the leader's critics. In a speech early on Monday, Putin hailed the results as an indication of "trust" and "hope" in him.
But critics saw them as just another sign of the prescripted nature of the election. Early returns after polling closed showed he extended his rule until 2030 with 87 per cent of the vote, after around 80 per cent of precincts were counted. It means another six years for the Russian despot, who had been in power since 1999.
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Vladimir Putin has extended his rule until 2030 (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)Those who opposed the leader attempted to protest the election in whatever way they could, whether that was spilling dye into ballot boxes, or gathering outside polling stations on Sunday to express their displeasure with the president. In his speech, he warned protests had "no effect" and any "crimes" would be punished after the vote.
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He began his speech by addressing those watching "dear friends", going on to say: "It's a great pleasure this evening to be with members of my team, with members of my team, people who think alike, who have the same goals. But let's think about this word, where it came from, comrade in arms, or teammates."
Speaking exclusively to The Mirror, body language expert Judi James warned that Putin's "touched" performance was not all it seems. She said: "Putin starts this speech with body language rituals that are completely out of character for him, perhaps intentionally sending out signals of being touched and near to overcome with emotion.
Putin used gestures to make him appear "touched" by the election win (Getty Images)"He grabs the stems of the two mics with his hands; he places a finger over his lips as though unsure what to say; he even performs a truncated gesture to suggest indecision, clasping his hands in front of his torso but then swerving to a different pose by putting one hand in his trouser pocket. He spreads his legs as though bracing himself and he sucks his lips in and looks upward as though fighting tears. One finger self-points at his own head then he touches his face with one fingertip in a gesture of anxiety."
It was certainly a different performance from the global leader than people are used to, as Russia prides itself on shows of strength. But, Judi explained: "It looks very much like showboating though.
"The performance of being touched and humbled by the voters is quickly replaced by a much more chilling version of Putin's bloody language. After this faltering start, he builds to a look of power and authority.
Putin soon switched to a more 'familiar' anger in his speech (Getty Images)"His lips become tense with a much harsher emotion and as he speaks of 'People who want to bully and suppress us' he is in a very familiar mode of anger, biting and snapping at his words with his lips held in a micro-snarl. Now he uses commanding upward index finger-point gestures and precision gestures to show control and clarity of thought.
"By the end he is standing with his legs splayed and his arms straight, held slightly away from his torso, with his hands balled into fists, mimicking a state of aggressive arousal and defiance."
Putin’s fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison last month, and other critics are either in jail or in exile. Beyond the fact that voters had virtually no choice, independent monitoring of the election was extremely limited. As people voted Sunday, Russian authorities said Ukraine launched a massive new wave of attacks on Russia, killing two people in the Belgorod region near the border.
Putin became more animated and aggressive as the speech went on (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)In a tightly controlled environment with little room for real protest, Navalny's associates urged those unhappy with Putin or the war to go to the polls at noon on Sunday - and lines outside a number of polling stations both inside Russia and at its embassies around the world appeared to swell at that time. Among those heeding call was Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny's widow, who joined a long line at the Russian Embassy in Berlin as some in the crowd applauded and chanted her name.
She spent more than five hours in the line and told reporters after casting her vote that she wrote her late husband's name on the ballot. Asked whether she had a message for Putin, Navalnaya replied: "Please stop asking for messages from me or from somebody for Mr Putin. There could be no negotiations and nothing with Mr Putin, because he’s a killer, he's a gangster."
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Meanwhile, supporters of Navalny streamed to his grave in Moscow, some bringing ballots with his name written on them. Meduza, Russia's biggest independent news outlet, published photos of ballots it received from their readers, with "killer" inscribed on one, "thief" on another and "The Hague awaits you" on yet another. The last refers to an arrest warrant for Putin from the International Criminal Court that accuses him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.