Platon

I said I was brought up by my mom and dad listening to the music of The Beatles.

I want to know if you ever listened to The Beatles.

His two translators whisper in his ear, there's some confusing looks amongst the entourage.

And then his mood drops.

And in Russian, he orders the two translators and all his political advisers out of the room immediately.

The bodyguards stay.

And then Putin turns to me, and in perfect English, he says, I love the Beatles.

I said, I didn't know you spoke English.

He said, I speak perfect English.

I said, in that case, who's your favorite Beatle?

He said, Paul.

I said, what's your favorite song?

Is it back in the USSR?

Yeah, he didn't like that very much.

And then he said, no.

My favorite song is Yesterday.

Think about it.

And I thought about it.

And I realized I'm being sent a subliminal message about the old days of power and authority of the Soviet Union through a Paul McCartney song.

Now, that human connection I had with him allowed me in, and I ended up about an inch and a half away from his nose as I took this picture.