It looked like a spontaneous stunt when Vladimir Putin bought an ice cream for visiting Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

But now it appears that the Kremlin leader has his own personal Cornetto lady on hand whenever he needs her – rumoured to be a member of his security service.

Eagle-eyed Russian journalists noted that the blonde ice cream seller at the MAKS-2019 international air show on Wednesday was the same woman who sold Putin his cone two years ago at the same event.

Other ice cream sellers at the event indicated they had not seen her before or since, say reports in Moscow.

By Thursday the mystery seller had vanished.

And the brand of ice cream sold to Putin and Erdogan was not available to other visitors to the air show, according to Moskovsky Komsomolets (MK).

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