- By Jake Horton, Adam Robinson & Paul Myers- BBC Reality Check & BBC MonitoringSocial media is awash with claims, repeated on news websites, that Russian President Vladimir Putin surrounded himself with actors for his New Year's address and at previous events.Others, including a Ukrainian news report, say she may be part of Russia's Federal Guards Service (FSO) - a security force that protects top leaders."Usually, a similarity score of 75% or higher should be considered when looking for an identity match," says Professor Hassan Ugail, Director of the Centre for Visual Computing at the University of Bradford.Both events at which she appeared took place in the Novgorod region where she is a member of the regional parliament for the United Russia Party, which backs Mr Putin.Comparing her face at the event with an image taken from a video interview posted online by the Russian Isvestia newspaper gave a 99.5% match."