Leonardo DiCaprio's Russian Lookalike Enlists In Army After Weight Gain And Career Challenges

After experiencing a brief moment of glory as a Leonardo DiCaprio impersonator, a Russian guy was compelled to join the Russian military in order to fight in Ukraine. In 2016, 41-year-old Roman Burtsev, a former Moscow programmer, rose to fame after his uncanny likeness to the Hollywood star went viral on social media.

Burtsev was able to pursue modelling and other endeavours as a result of his sudden reputation. But as he put on weight, his career took a turn for the worse, and he eventually lost his job. When Burtsev was compelled to serve in the Russian military, he was reportedly having financial issues, according to Russian media accounts.

Photo Credit: Instagram/roman_sdicaprio

Discussions concerning how the war is affecting regular Russians, especially those who are struggling financially, have been triggered by the news of Burtsev's enrolment.

Photo Credit: Instagram/roman_sdicaprio

While some have attacked the Russian government for enlisting its citizens to fight in a war that has caused immense misery, many others have voiced sympathy for Burtsev's condition.

Meanwhile, Russia, which is advancing, controls about one fifth of Ukraine, including Crimea, which it seized and unilaterally annexed in 2014, about 80% of the Donbas-a coal-and-steel zone comprising the Donetsk and Luhansk regions-and over 70% of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Putin has said that Moscow would not trade away the four regions of eastern Ukraine that it says are now part of Russia and that Moscow wants its long-term security interests taken into account in Europe.