Facelift or judo injury? Putin tries to mask shiner

VLADIMIR Putin, who has carved out a strongman image by wrestling with tigers or judo opponents, raised eyebrows yesterday as he was pictured caked in make-up, apparently to mask a black eye.

Journalists feverishly speculated that the Russian premier could have taken a punch during a judo session or even had a facelift, after he visited Kiev on Wednesday slathered in war paint.

“Ukrainian, Russian and Western journalists ... talked only of one thing: How did the Russian prime minister get a black eye?” reported Kommersant business daily’s Kremlin correspondent Andrei Kolesnikov.