IT’S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS

‘Gold Watch’ From Putin Turns Out to Be Cheap Knockoff

One of the Kremlin’s proxy leaders had “bragged about it, claiming it was a real gift from Putin as a warm welcome to the ‘new government,’” Ukrainian authorities said.

A gold watch allegedly presented to one of Russia’s new proxy leaders in occupied Ukraine by President Vladimir Putin has turned out to be a cheap fake, Ukrainian authorities say. The State Bureau of Investigation announced Thursday that it found the “gift” from Putin during a raid on the office of the first deputy of the Russian-installed former mayor of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo. When Ukrainian forces moved in to reclaim the area from the Kremlin’s puppets, the agency said, the first deputy “ran away together with his curators, abandoning the watch and other belongings.” The watch, engraved on the back with “From the President of Russia,” features Russia’s coat of arms. But it’s only a knockoff, according to the investigative agency, which quipped that “it will probably be a big disappointment for the collaborator that the watch turned out to be an outright forgery in the worst version of the ‘Russian back country.’” It was not immediately clear if the watch truly had been presented on behalf of Putin or anyone in the Kremlin.

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Allison QuinnNews Editor

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