Bonkers Vladimir Putin donned an Italian designer overcoat worth a whopping £5,088 as he met mobilised troops and fired a sniper’s rifle during a military visit.
The former-KGB officer says he loathes the West but was more than happy to show off its high-end fashion – despite fighters in his army forced to go to war in trainers following supply issues.
During his trip to the training ground in the Ryazan region, the dictator is said to have hit the target after laying on his stomach in the silk coat to test the lethal sniper’s rifle.
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His eye-wateringly expensive Andrea Campagna coat cost the same as seven kits for conscripted Russians forced into mobilisation by Putin, at the same time they are forced to buy their own uniforms – including socks.
Putin has admitted “mistakes” with the provision of war uniforms for draftees – but not his own sartorial choices.
The coat is more modest than the £20,256 Loro Piana coat he wore at a pro-war rally in March marking the eighth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea.
His choice triggered outrage from the brand’s owner.
"It's somewhat shameful from a human point of view", said Pier Luigi Loro Piana, who has helped Ukrainians with donations.
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Anti-Putin campaigner Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia ’s wealthiest man, highlighted the president’s Italian silk coat worn last week in Ryazan and complained: “Every seventh Russian does not have money for winter clothes.
“Fourteen percent of Russians plan to take out a loan to pay for the purchase of a jacket or a coat.”
Mobilised men and their families have repeatedly complained about the conditions in which they are forced to live, and the state of their uniforms and equipment.
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Officials in Russia’s largest regions are sending mobilised male soldiers into battle equipped with female sanitary pads to make Russian army boots more comfortable as makeshift insoles.
Mobilised men have even been urged to buy and pack tampons when they are sent to the frontline.
These are seen as useful for stemming blood loss from bullet wounds in the absence of proper medical supplies.
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