When Ronald Reagan Met Vladimir Putin

March 16, 2009



Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan once met Vladimir Putin in May 1988 during a visit to Moscow. In the photo above, Reagan was approached by a group of supposed Russian tourists. The tourists were actually KGB members with their families. Radio Free Europe says these "tourists" asked President Reagan about human rights conditions in the United States.

The blonde-haired man in the striped shirt on the far left is Vladimir Putin. Putin was a KGB colonel in 1988. Reagan's photographer, Pete Souza, confirmed this information to NPR in January. Pete Souza is now the White House photographer for President Obama.

(via Foreign Policy and Newser)

Photo: Ronald Reagan Library

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