No, Vladimir Putin did not get pooped on by a bird during a First World War speech

A YouTube video claimed to show the incident in Moscow but was fake

Footage of Putin getting pooped on by a bird appears to be fake (YouTube)

A video of Vladimir Putin apparently being pooped on by a passing bird during a speech has proved to be a fake.

Footage uploaded to YouTube claimed to show the embarrassing incident as the Russian President spoke at the unveiling of a First World War memorial in Moscow on Friday.

Even by Putin’s ice man standards, he did seem remarkably unfazed by the present on his shoulder – probably because it was never there.

In all other footage of the event the bird poo is nowhere to be seen and it does not appear on any pictures taken by multiple international agencies.

If the incident had been real, it would not have been Putin’s first public encounter with an animal’s rear end – in September he drew a cat’s backside for confused Russian pupils on a school visit.

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister used a picture of his superior with a leopard to show the “different values” between his country and the US and Putin has also been seen “shaking hands” with a walrus and feeding dolphins.

The Russian President is known for using photo opportunities with animals to cultivate his “macho” image.

If his PR is to be believed, he likes nothing more than a holiday horse-riding topless through the wilds of southern Russia, catching huge pike or harpooning whales.

Unluckily for many for the animals involved, Putin’s publicity stunts can end badly, as with the Siberian tiger that died after being over-sedated so the President could attach a GPS transmitter.