Putin’s Former Publicity Minions Air His Dirty Laundry

And when the Russian president did finally travel to the war zone, the image he struck shocked former aides and public relations experts. Russian officials released a shaky, amateur-style video of the Russian president looking quite miserable, nervously playing with the zipper of his parka with sounds of explosions in the background. Those same people, like Ernst, worked on Putin’s image,” Schlegel told The Daily Beast, referring to Konstantin Ernst, the director of Channel One. Yes, we are doing that,” the Russian president said in the clip.) One of the original masterminds of Putin’s early publicity stunts is Marat Gelman, the Kremlin’s former political technologist.