Russia’s president Vladimir Putin escaped to the snowy terrains of Siberia with his defence minister Sergei Shoigu at the weekend, where he was spotted dressed all in sheepskin, piloting an all-terrain vehicle through the woodland before carefully traversing a swaying rope bridge.
Images of the apparently laid-back president on his rural retreat came amid increased tensions with the US, whose newly elected president Joe Biden recently said that he believes his Russian counterpart is a “killer”.
In a video released by the Kremlin, the Russian president could be seen behind the wheel of military vehicle traversing the snow-clad terrain of a Siberian birch tree forest. The president, draped in the animal fur, also visited a wood workshop belonging to Mr Shoigu, where the latter showed him his handiwork.
Mr Putin was also photographed posing in knee-deep snow and the two leaders were later seen sitting down together for a cosy meal in the forest with vodka glasses and animal skins to warm their seats.
Mr Putin is known for routinely releasing series of hyper-masculine photos, aiming to project the image of a healthy, strong and robust leader.
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He last went hiking in the Siberian forest, for his 67th birthday, in 2019. He was shown then picking wild mushrooms near a spot overlooking the banks of the Yenisei River.
Earlier in 2018, he was photographed bare-chested, plunging into the icy water of Lake Seliger, as a part of a ritual to mark Orthodox Epiphany.
In April 2010, Mr Putin attached a satellite-tracking device on the collar of a tranquillised polar bear.
In 2009, a bare-chested Mr Putin was seen riding a horse in southern Siberia’s Tuva region.
And in 2008, he was captured holding a tranquillised Siberian tiger’s head as scientists fitted it with a tracking device.
