Russian President Vladimir Putin cracked a joke at the expense of a journalist he mistook for drunk because of his slurred speech, however it was later revealed the reporter spoke that way because he'd previously had multiple strokes.
According to NBC News, the incident occurred at Putin's annual press conference on Thursday.
The marathon presser was well into nearly three hours of questions from reporters, with Putin blaming the West for a recent drop in the value of the ruble, when a journalist lightened the tone of the evening.
"A very down-to-earth question . . . we produce kvas in my town . . ." said Vladimir Mamatov, a Kirov-based journalist.
"Kvas? I feel you’ve already thrown back some kvas," Putin interjected, prompting laughter from the audience.
Kvas is a drink made from fermented bread and malt, and contains a very small amount of alcohol — usually on the order of 1 percent.
Mamatov was a good sport, laughing at the joke himself, and saying he wanted to bring some in for the president, but security wouldn't allow it.
Getting to his question, the reporter asked Putin why Pepsi and Coca Cola were much more readily available in Russia than kvas, the national drink.
"Joking aside, this is an absolutely valid question. I don’t know exactly how harmful Coca Cola is, but many specialists claim that it is, especially for children," said Putin.
"I don’t want to insult Coca Cola, but we do have our own national soft-drink – it’s more or less soft, isn’t it? – which is kvas, and perfectly good it is."
After the event, Mamatov was spotted drinking kvas, however Russia Today also posted a tweet explaining that Mamatov's speech was slurred because of his past stokes.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.