Think Vladimir Putin looks like a Bond villain? It’s more serious than that | Jonathan Jones

The west may laugh at the Russian president’s submarine stunt, but his actions echo those of nationalist leaders in the 20s – and are received just as well at home

Vladimir Putin has a way of looking almost like a clown to the wider world while sending out exactly the message he wants to his audience in Russia. Both appearances – the so nearly comical figure abroad and the national hero at home – serve him well as he continues in a project whose ultimate aim we can only guess at. Or try not to, if we want to get any sleep.

The Russian president’s latest stunt casts him as a daring undersea adventurer in the bubble-like capsule of a bathyscaphe about to descend to an ancient shipwreck at the bottom of the Black Sea. It’s another pose that lends itself both to sensation and ridicule. Melodramatically, hostile westerners might see an absurd resemblance to a Bond villain. Putin’s love of hi-tech has all the boy’s toy bravado of a blockbuster spy movie. Where’s he going – his undersea lair?

‘Imagine if Nicola Sturgeon posed in a bathyscaphe in the North Sea to prove the antiquity of Scottish fishing rights.'

Related: Putin on a show: Russian president feeds personality cult with minisub trip – in pictures

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