Putin Mocked After Speech Met With Awkward Silence

• Russian President Vladimir Putin experienced an awkward moment this week when he was met with silence from ambassadors he was speaking to during a televised speech.
• The moment was captured on video and shared to social media, resulting in many people making jokes at Putin's expense.
• Other images from the event show the Russian leader speaking from a distance of many feet away from the ambassadors, leading to speculation that he remains extremely fearful of COVID-19.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was captured on video this week experiencing an awkward moment when he appeared to pause during a speech for applause that never came.

The moment, which has been shared online by Putin's critics, occurred on Wednesday at the Grand Kremlin Palace during a ceremony to present diplomatic credentials to 17 newly-appointed foreign ambassadors.

In his speech, Putin singled out the new United States and European Union (EU) ambassadors, and said they were responsible for a breakdown in relations with Russia following his decision to invade Ukraine last February. Addressing new U.S. ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy, Putin indicated that U.S. support for a Ukraine revolution in 2014 "ultimately led to today's Ukrainian crisis."

When Putin arrived at the end of his speech, he seemingly waited for applause, but was met with silence from the ambassadors. The Kremlin and Russia's state media seemingly edited out the moment from its videos, but numerous social media users captured the uncomfortable silence and posted it online.

"No one applauded Putin after he finished his speech at the ceremony of ambassadors presenting their credentials in the Kremlin," Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, wrote in a tweet that contained a clip taken from the Russian independent news outlet Meduza. "Putin waited for applause as he finished talking but none came."

In the video, the Russian president can be seen smiling slightly as he concludes his speech. The Russian leader and the ambassadors exchange brief nods, and he wishes them "all the best" in English before departing from the room.

Russian blogger Rustem Adagamov shared a spliced video that showed footage from 2021's ceremony for new ambassadors juxtaposed with this week's proceedings. The most notable difference was that the ambassadors applauded two years ago.

Kevin Rothrock, the managing editor of Meduza, wrote in a tweet that the ambassadors didn't applaud during last year's ceremony either, "but the Kremlin's video cut away before the awkward silence really set in."

"This is a delicious moment. Putin clearly expected a polite applause, but he received none. The ambassadors—some having been scolded—expected at least a hand shake, and they got none," Swedish economist Anders Åslund wrote on Twitter. "Just shows that no need to maintain any embassies or ambassadors in Moscow. Go home!"

"That awkward moment when the war criminal fugitive finishes his speech to silence," Olga Lautman, a journalist and senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA)," tweeted.

Other people on social media have singled out how the ambassadors stood far away from Putin, with British tabloids such as the Daily Mirror and Metro reporting the Russian leader's podium was placed 60 feet away from the group.

The outlets speculated the distance was perhaps due to Putin being cautious about COVID-19. Earlier this week, an interview was published by the investigative website Dossier Center with a former Kremlin guard who claimed Putin is fearful of catching the disease.

The guard, identified as Gleb Karakulov, worked directly for Putin during his 13 years in the Federal Guard Service (FSO) before his defection to the West.

"We have to observe a strict quarantine for two weeks before any event, even those lasting 15 to 20 minutes," he told the Dossier Center. "There is a pool of employees who have been cleared—who underwent this two-week quarantine. They are [considered] 'clean' and can work in the same room as Putin."

During the end of his speech on Wednesday, Putin acknowledged COVID-19 protocol was being enforced by saying that since "sanitary restrictions remain in effect" he would "not be able to communicate in person" with the ambassadors.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email for comment.