Thanks to her modesty, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović became a star of the FIFA World Cup final. However, some Serbian media are trying to taint her image.
The fact of the Croatian president’s going to Moscow by an ordinary airliner and sitting in the stands drew the fans’ attention. Although later she joined other leaders and watched the final match in the VIP box, she was still wearing a T-shirt in the colours of the Croatian team.
She participated in the medals ceremony in the same outfit. Unlike Vladimir Putin, the Croatian leader had to wait for an umbrella in the pouring rain for a long time. When congratulating the team, she was to the skin, which only added autenticity to her image.
Journalists have hailed Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović as the nicest president of the World Cup, which is certainly a сatch both for the politician herself and for Croatia. The problem is that some portals even consider her the sexiest head of state in the world. Before the final match the photos of the ‘Croatian president’ sunbathing on the beach in a bikini appeared on the Internet. And such kind of promotion hardly serves the country well.
According to The Sun, it was the Serbian tabloid Informer that heated up the image of Grabar-Kitarović – anti-Croat sentiment has been strong among the Serbs since the civil war and the disintegration of Yugoslavia. It should be added that many Serbs supported Russia during the Cup by trumpeting their alleged civilizational, religious and political unity.
The disinformation attack might have been quickly revealed, but the spicy news has already played its role. Croatian and European media keep trying to convince the public that the bikini pictures do not represent President Kitarović, but Coco Austin. The latter is an American celebrity, model, dancer and the life partner of rapper Ice-T rapper.
But the bad taste still lingers.
