Russian President Vladimir Putin's art of the photo op
Horse riding
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has in the past presented himself sitting proud, bare-chested on a horse, but on Friday he admitted to taking a fall.
“They were once filming me, I was training, and it happened that the horse stopped in front of a barrier and I did a somersault, literally a somersault,” Putin was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency on Friday.
Skinny dipping
The 68-year-old who has been in power in Russia for more than two decades as president or prime minister took a dip in icy waters in the water during Orthodox Epiphany celebrations at lake Seliger, Tver region.
Judo
Putin, who is a black belt in judo, is a one-time judo champion in his native city of St Petersburg.
Animal lover
In this image, Putin is holding a five-year-old tiger's head as scientists put on a collar with a satellite tracker on the animal in the academy of sciences Ussuri reserve in Russia's Far East on August 31, 2008.
Sharp shooter
In this photo, Putin can be seen standing with a gun at a shooting gallery in the new GRU military intelligence headquarters building when he visited it in Moscow once.
Reports say that he hit four out of five targets at 50 meters (yards) when he shot a special rifle for visually impaired people, making a noise when aimed correctly.
Adventurer
In this image, Putin is seen through the glass of C-Explorer 5 submersible after a dive to see the remains of the naval frigate "Oleg", which sank in the 19th century, in the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea.
Sports enthusiast
In this image, Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (R) are seen playing an ice hockey game at Shayba Arena in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia.
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