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Did Hadley Gamble 'distract' Putin? CNBC anchor accused of using herself as 'sex object'

Some Russian channels claimed that Hadley Gamble attempted to 'distract' the Russian leader by using her body 'at full steam'

CNBC's Hadley Gamble, who moderated an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin at an energy forum in Moscow, was accused by a Russian TV channel of attempting to distract the world leader by "positioning herself as a sex object".

After the interview aired, Putin was criticized for sounding sexist when he referred to her in a session about the gas war as "beautiful" and "pretty". However, Vladimir Solovyov, a Putin 'propagandist,' has chosen to focus on previously unseen moments of the interview between Gamble and Putin, claiming Gamble attempts to "distract" the Russian leader by using her legs. Another presenter, Dmitry Kiselyov, claimed she used her "body language" at "full steam". The footage was curated in a way through which the state TV showed Gamble making an unsuccessful bid to throw the 69-year-old leader off guard. 

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"Naturally not everything was included in the TV broadcast, so this is what was seen by the audience, and by our crew," said the report on 57-year-old Solovyov's Rossiya 1 news channel show. Kiselyov, known as Putin's 'mouthpiece' and 'propagandist-in-chief', told viewers: "To summarise, Hadley behaved daringly, openly positioning herself as a sex object, without any fear of being criticized by feminists."

Gamble mocks Russian TV criticism

Making light of the criticism brought on against her, Gamble posted a photo to her Instagram account where she held up a Russian newspaper with a front-page article that appears to be about her legs and sex appeal. "My best angle," she captioned the photo, including a laughing emoji and the hashtag "feminism." Also, on Sunday, October 17, she shared a picture of a cake featuring a screen-print of Putin's face and text reading: "Too beautiful!" "I have the best friends," Gamble captioned the photo.

After viewing the footage, body language expert Judy James pointed out that "all ancient body language flirt manuals cite the act of pointing your foot in someone’s direction as signaling attraction." In fact, she said that Gamble's body language shown in the footage is "hilarious and pretty blatant."

"It's not unknown for both male and female interviewers to fake-flirt with their 'prey' in a bid to either distract them or to encourage them to be off their guard when they're answering questions," James said. "Flirting can look both flattering and intimate and suggest an air of collusion, making the interviewee feel they can trust the other person and be more open with them. It can also lead to boasting, which is where a lot of politicians in particular tend to get caught out, blurting more than they should do as their ego gets both stroked and stoked."

She added: "These signals are anything but subtle though. This woman appears to have devoured the chapter on flirting from some body language guide to love and sex from the early 1970s. Far from picking one signal to attract attention, she seems to be using the entire repertoire, many of them at the same time."

'It's a weak man who hides behind testosterone''

The Russian news outlet and Putin are facing criticism on social media for their commentary. Daily Beast columnist Julia Davis defended Gamble when Kiselyov's accusations made headlines. "The state media’s ridiculous assault on a U.S. journalist’s appearance was merely a smokescreen for what truly drew the ire of the pro-Kremlin media: it wasn’t Hadley Gamble’s dress or her legs, but her questions," Davis tweeted. The columnist also alleged that the network's response to Gamble's outfit was hypocritical as they has previously slammed American diplomat Victoria Nuland for wearing a pantsuit. "What's especially comical is that the Russians are criticizing Victoria Nuland for "insulting Russia" by not wearing a skirt or a dress, and Hadley Gamble for wearing one they didn't like," she wrote.

Likewise, David Sheppard, energy editor at the Financial Times, tweeted that Putin telling Gamble she is "a beautiful woman but that she's not listening to what he says" was "as grim as it sounds." He also snapped at a user saying, "You think it’s legitimate to lead off an answer talking about a journalist’s looks? It’s patronising, it’s sexist and it’s not on. It's a weak man who hides behind testosterone as an excuse for inappropriate behaviour. Would he have said the same to a male journalist? No."