Alexandra Shevchenko, who stripped to the waist in front of the Russian president as he toured a trade fair in Hanover alongside German chancellor Angela Merkel, said that he was ‘really stupid’.

Putin claimed to have been entertained by the demonstration, telling a press conference, “As for the protest, I liked it.” Shevchenko said: “Putin is a b*****d. If you’re a normal person you have to be against him.