Putin's rigid hands spark intrigue during missile address
For several days, the eyes of the world have been on Russia, which on Thursday attacked the Ukrainian city of Dnipro with a new medium-range missile, the Oreshnik. An expert from the German daily "Bild" comments on Vladimir Putin's address, pointing out one significant detail of the recording - the dictator's hands "glued to the table."
Vladimir Putin's unexpected address was related to strikes deep into Russia. The dictator stated that on 19th November, ATACMS missiles and on 20th November, Storm Shadow systems hit targets in the Kursk and Bryansk regions. The attack's objectives were allegedly not achieved, even though Russian channels reported losses.
Putin confirmed that on Thursday morning, the Ukrainian city of Dnipro was attacked with the new medium-range ballistic missile Oreshnik.
The echoes of Russia's use of the new Oreshnik system have not faded. According to Putin, "there is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today." However, the German "Bild" points out another important element of the Russian dictator's statement - during the several-minute long address, Putin did not move his hands once, which is highly suggestive.
Can Putin move his hands?
"Bild" notes that Putin often gesticulated during previous speeches. He gesticulated just as vividly the day after (22nd November) during a meeting with the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defence. Meanwhile, in the recording from Thursday's address, his hands "look as if they were glued to the table."
Julian Röpke, "Bild's" expert in open-source analysis, believes that the recording could also have been appropriately edited to draw the immobilised hands of the dictator closer to the rest of his body. In his opinion, this could be done due to the dictator's illness or to conceal his excitement.
– These recordings showed that Putin threatens the whole world, but he himself cannot move his hands – emphasised the expert.
Similar conclusions were drawn by British body language expert, Judi James, who believes that in the footage, Putin "struggled to hide his anger."
– Those hands didn't move, neither did his torso. His micro eye-dart suggested he was reading from an auto-cue and he began in a pose of performed concern, with his right eyebrow held in a frown that curled upward on the inner corner and a heavily furrowed brow – she pointed out.
