Vladimir Putin worked as a stuntman in World War II films in the 1970s, a longtime friend of the Russian President claims.
Putin allegedly featured as an extra and stuntman in three war films thanks to his skills as an athlete and judoka, Russian media reports.
Longtime friend and judo partner Vasily Shestakov said Putin worked as an extra for cash while studying at university.
Impressive claims: A supposed longtime friend of Vladimir Putin claims the Russian president worked as an extra in World War II films in the 1970s
Speaking to Russian media, Shestakov said they used to star in war films depicting battles between Nazi Germany and Soviet during World War II.
However, he was quick to add that while he had played both German and Soviet soldiers, Putin had never played a German fighter.
‘Putin has never played the role of a fascist,’ Shestakov told Dozhd.
He claims Putin starred in several films made by the Lenfilm studio, based in St Petersburg, in the 1970s.
These included Izhora Battalion (1972) and The Blockade (1974).
Strongman: Putin, who has a penchant for riding topless through the Siberian steppes, trained judo for several years and has a black belt
Back in the day: A young Vladimir Putin is seen practicing Judo, reportedly around the same time as he did stunt work
He said: ‘We were in Izhora Batallion and Blockade together.
‘We were paid good money for that time. I was paid 110 rubles [a month] in my engineer’s job, but when I was working on movies, I made 75 rubles a day.
‘That was a lot of money.’
His story was backed up by Nikolai Vashshilin, an athlete and stuntman who claims he trained for the same judo coach as Putin.
However, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov rubbished the claims and said he did not know anything about his filming background.
Lenfilm studio also confirmed that they do not hold any files with information on Putin’s reported stunt work.