Unlike other world leaders, Putin protects his family from the tabloid press
This post first appeared on Russia Insider
As a popular and influential world leader, Vladimir Putin faces a serious dilemma: How can his family expect to lead a normal, dignified existence when there are so many crazy people with selfie sticks who would love to chase them down in the streets of Moscow?
Of course, this is more or less standard practice in the civilized Anglo-Saxon world, where royal babies are fawned over from birth, and then later in life develop cocaine habits; and in America, they even make goofy movies starring Sinbad about the First Kid. Imagine the psychological trauma.
Putin does not want his grandchildren growing up to be Chelsea Clinton. And so, during his nationally-broadcasted Q&A session on Thursday, he made it clear why he doesn't parade his family around the Kremlin for the tabloid press (in fact, he doesn't even feel the need to divulge the names of his grandchildren, or even how old they are):
You know, my children, my daughters, live a normal civilian life here in Moscow, contrary to all rumors. I also have grandchildren. They live a normal life, too.
I don’t want them to grow up as “blue bloods”, I want them to develop into normal human beings. For that they need ordinary human interaction as part of a childrens’ community. Once I expose their ages and names they will be harassed immediately.
This would damage the development of a child. Therefore, I would like to ask you to treat my position with understanding.
We can already imagine the Daily Beast headline: "Putin threatens to kill journalists who stalk his infant grandchildren".
Watch:
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