Russian President Vladimir Putin swam in freezing water on Tuesday to mark the Orthodox Christian banquet of the Epiphany.
Video clip shared by Kremlin pool press reporters from the state-run RIA Novosti news company showed Putin wading into the water in blue swimming trunks and soaking 3 times while crossing himself before hastily exiting the ice opening.
” It’s his custom. He doesn’t betray practice,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov informed press reporters, soon prior to the video clip appeared online.
Russians celebrate the banquet of the Epiphany each year by showering in cold lakes and also rivers to celebrate the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan.
The Orthodox Christian custom is preferred with non-believers too, as a cold ice bath is believed to be good for you.
This is the initial authorities video clip footage of 68-year-old Putin braving the bone-chilling waters considering that Jan. 19, 2018, when he was revealed approaching the icy bathroom in a coat as well as boots, removing off to his trunks as well as immersing himself in freezing waters. Records of his Epiphany bathrooms in succeeding years had archived photos.
This year, Peskov did not claim where Putin took the icy dip or what the temperature level was at the moment. The Kremlin pool reporters’ Twitter account stated the video clip was filmed outside Moscow in minus 20 level Celsius weather condition.
Onlookers fasted to observe the similarities in between the color of Putin’s swimwear and also opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s undergarments, which a supposed FSB policeman accused of his poisoning exposed in a technique call last month to be blue.
Putin’s icy dip additionally proceeds the custom of him being photographed bare-chested engaged in tasks including horse riding, searching, catching fish and also lounging in the sun in Siberia.