Vladimir Putin is shown here waving to the crowd during a recent trip to Ulan Bator (Улаанбаатар or Ulaanbaatar), Mongolia. Given what is transpiring in Ukraine, his timing was interesting - for his trip was largely ceremonial where he laid a wreath at the grave of Georgy Zhukov (Гео́ргий Жу́ков) a legendary Soviet War hero.
As with all politicians, here the Russian President is attempting to project outwardly one emotion – while he is really feeling another one. In the real world this happens many times a day - politics or otherwise. In addition, it is also possible that two different emotions are being sincerely experienced simultaneously or nearly so (emotional dissonance). Sussing out the difference and – in the case of the second scenario – discerning which emotion is more dominant - is crucial beyond words.
Vladimir's primary emotion here is disgust. We cannot say what exactly about which he is disgusted - for that we need more context - yet disgust is the bulk of his emotional tone in this moment. His mouth expression indicates an attempt at a social smile - with a very low sincerity quotient. What do you think was Mr. Putin's dominant emotion two or three seconds earlier? What signs here lead you to this conclusion?
See also:
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2941: Barack Obama at NATO Summit - Split Finger Fastball & the Dominant Spider
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2937: Vladimir Putin - “If I want to, I can take Kiev in two weeks” and Critical Evaluation
Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 1889: Vladimir Putin & Barack Obama at the G-20
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2511: Barack Obama & Vladimir Putin Handshake at 2013 G20 Meeting
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2939: Barack Obama in Tallinn, Estonia - Body Language Tells
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