Moscow, June 18: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has appointed a glamorous former model as his 'personal photographer', triggering a flurry of comments why she was hired.
25-year-old ex-model Yana Lapikova, who contested for the Miss Moscow title in 2008, would work as an intern for Putin's two photographers and may eventually become a full-timer, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed yesterday.
"She is really a good photographer, and her modelling past is of no interest to us whatsoever because it's not a crime," Peskov was quoted as saying by RIA-Novosti.
Peskov said the two regular photographers are "squeezed dry" by their exhaustive schedule, which he compared to "penal servitude."
But he said that finding one more photographer was hard because government pay is no match for salaries at news agencies. AP
