Vladimir Putin says sight of naked Western leaders would be ‘disgusting’

Vladimir Putin says it would be “disgusting” to see the likes of Boris Johnson and Justin Trudeau naked as he fires back at their jokes about his shirtless pics.

President Vladimir Putin taunted Western leaders over their “lack of machismo”, saying it would be “disgusting” to see them naked.

The Russian leader’s comments come after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Canada’s PM Justin Trudeau openly mocked Mr Putin’s habit of being photographed shirtless as world leaders gathered in Germany for the G7.

As G7 leaders said down for talks, Mr Johnson said: “Jackets on? Jackets off? Shall we take our clothes off …?

“We all have to show that we’re tougher than Putin.”

Mr Trudeau joked that Western leaders should emulate the Kremlin leader’s naked torso pictures with a “bare-chested horseback riding display”.

The Russian leader has been frequently photographed without a shirt. Picture: AFP/RIA-NOVOSTI/Alexey Druzhinin

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a joke at Mr Putin’s expense at the G7 meeting. Picture: Eliot Blondet/AFP

Mr Putin, 69, hit back at a summit in Tajikistan, body shaming his foes and telling reporters: “I don’t know exactly how far they wanted to get undressed, above or below the waist.

“But I think, either way, it would be a disgusting sight.”

He claimed that, unlike him, Western leaders abused alcohol and did not do sports.

Putin, a martial arts black-belt and fitness fanatic, then cited the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.

“Recall Pushkin … who said: ‘One might be all about business, yet still take care of the beauty of one’s nails.’ I certainly agree with that.

“One must have both a body and a spirit harmoniously developed.

“But to achieve harmony, you must stop abusing alcohol and other bad habits, and do sports.

“The [Western] colleagues you mentioned, I know them all personally.

Boris Johnson, US President Joe Biden and other world leaders at the NATO Summit on June 29 in Madrid. Picture: Denis Doyle/Getty Images

“This is not the best period in our relations, this is understandable.

“Yet they are all leaders, so they would achieve success if they wanted to.

“But they must work on themselves.”

Russian TV channel Zvezda – controlled by the Russian defence ministry – put out Mr Putin’s comments under the file name: “DISGUSTING NAKED OLD MEN.”

Mr Putin was responding to a reporter’s question in Dushanbe who asked: “The G7 summit in Germany was about ‘How to punish Russia more painfully’, with jokes about your, excuse me, naked torso.

“The Canadian Prime Minister said: ‘Let’s take off our jackets and be cooler than Putin’. Did you happen to discuss anything similar here at the Caspian summit?

“Also, Boris Johnson said that if Russia’s president were a woman there wouldn’t be any war. How do you feel about that in general?”

Putin is a martial arts black-belt and fitness fanatic. Picture: AFP/RIA-NOVOSTI/Alexey Druzhinin

Mr Putin also denied his missiles had targeted a Ukrainian shopping mall in what has been labelled a terrorist strike and a war crime in Kremenchuk.

“I know, and we said it many times, we showed it, it was obvious from drones, that they place weapons, artillery in living quarters,” he said. “We don’t shoot just to shoot.

“As a rule, it is done at targets checked by intelligence, and I am certain exactly the same was in this case.

“They hide equipment, specially [arms] delivered from the West in various hangars, markets, at factories and workshops where they repair and prepare the equipment after lengthy delivery from abroad.

“The Russian army does not hit any civilian sites. There is no need.

“We have every capacity to figure out the locations of everything and with our high-precision long range weapons, we reach these targets.”