Above is a typical photo of Yana Lapikova, the former model that Russian strongman Vladimir Putin has just hired as his new personal photographer. To take the pictures, not to be in them! Behind the camera, now, Yana. Having pictures with Yana and Vladimir together could be very bad for your health. *Dark scowl.*

So how did Yana get this photography gig? Her photography skills, of course. Julia Ioffe has located the following photo (photo composition?) that Yana did, which I imagine caused several officials in the Russian Department of Photography to drop all of the items they were carrying in order to grab a phone and contact Vladimir Putin, at once:

"In Soviet Russia..." joke goes here!

[Photos via Julia Ioffe]