Surprise! Putin Diving 'Discoveries' Were Fake

You were right, Internet. Vladimir Putin isn’t really a deep sea archaeologist. The once-and-future Russian president’s press secretary has admitted that the video of Putin finding a collection of ancient Greek jugs at the bottom of a Black Sea bay was a setup, the New York Times reports. The artifacts had actually been found “several weeks or days before,” and then planted in water that was all of six feet deep so Putin could “discover” them.

“Naturally, they either left them there, or they put them there,” the press secretary said. “This is completely normal. It is totally not a pretext for malicious joy and so forth.” He also revealed that Putin does not rely on image consultants or PR professionals to dream up his various displays of personal prowess. "Most of the time, he does it himself." (More Vladimir Putin stories.)