Vladimir Putin, the 58-year-old former president and current prime
minister of Russia, has cultivated a distinct public image over the past
several years. The politician has piloted firefighting planes, darted
whales, driven race cars, and even taken a submersible 1,400 meters
(4,600 ft) below the surface of Lake Baikal. Putin was forced to step
down from the presidency in 2008 due to a constitutional limit on more
than two consecutive terms. However, he remained the most influential
figure in Russian politics, and has had a strong hand in the "tandem
rule" between himself and current president Dmitri Medvedev. The next
presidential election takes place in March of 2012, and indications are
that both Medvedev and Putin are planning to run, though neither has
officially announced his candidacy yet. Gathered here are some of the
more interesting photos taken of Vladimir Putin during his tenure as
Russia's prime minister over the past few years. [34 photos]
A picture released on March 6, 2010 shows Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin taking a horseback ride in the Karatash area, near the
town of Abakan, during his working trip to the Republic of Khakassia, on
February 25, 2010. (Alexei Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images)
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wears a helmet and the uniform of
the Renault Formula One team before driving a F1 race car on a special
track in Leningrad region outside St. Petersburg, on November 7, 2010.
(Alexei Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images) # 
Vladimir Putin test drives a Renault Formula One team car at a racing track near Leningrad, on November 7, 2010.
(Reuters/Ria Novosti/Alexei Nikolsky) #
Vladimir Putin holds a five-year-old tiger's head as scientists put 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.
(Reuters/RIA Novosti/Kremlin/Alexei Druzhinin) #
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin holds a judo training session at
the Top Athletic School during his working visit to St Petersburg, on
December 18, 2009
(Alexei Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images) #
Vladimir Putin prepares to dive during a visit to an archeological
excavation of an ancient Greek port on the Taman Peninsula, about 1150
kilometers (720 miles) south of Moscow, Russia, on Wednesday, August 10,
2011. Ancient Greek colonies were located on the peninsula and served
as trading posts with the steppes of what is now southern Russia and
Ukraine.
(AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin) #
On August 10, 2011, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin carries two
pieces of archaeological trophies he discovered during diving near an
archeological excavation of an ancient Greek port on the Taman
Peninsula.
(AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin) #
This picture taken on September 19, 2009 shows Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin looking at a leopard as he visits the National Park in
Sochi.
(Alexei Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images) #
Yana Lapikova, a new personal photographer of Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin, taking pictures during an official event in Moscow, on June 16,
2011. The Russian government sought on June 17 to douse a frenzy of
Internet comment after it hired Lapikova, an attractive former model and
"Miss Moscow" finalist, as personal photographer to Putin.
(Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images) #
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on a boat on Lake Ladoga, as he
visits the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery on Valaam island, northern
Russia, on August 14, 2011. During the visit to Valaam he took part in
the Sunday service in the upper church of the Transfiguration Cathedral.
(AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin) #
Vladimir Putin participates in an arm-wrestling contest during a visit
at a summer camp run by the Nashi youth group at Lake Seliger in the
central Tver region, on August 1, 2011. Thousands of young activists
from 84 regions of Russia gathered in the camp for the annual forum in
Russia.
(Alexei Nikolsky/AFP/Getty Images) #
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attempts to bend a frying pan
with his bare hands during his visit to the summer camp of the
pro-Kremlin youth group "Nashi" at lake Seliger, some 400km (248miles)
north of Moscow, on August 1, 2011.
(Reuters/Yana Lapikova/RIA Novosti) #
Vladimir Putin drives a snowmobile at Russia's ski resort Krasnaya Polyana near Sochi in southern Russia, on January 3, 2010.
(Reuters/RIA Novosti/Kremlin/Dmitry Astakhov) #
Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, wearing headphones, sits in the
cockpit of a firefighting plane in Ryazan region August 10, 2010. The
plane later dropped water on a blaze southeast of Moscow, state media
reported.
(Reuters/Ria Novosti/Alexei Nikolsky) #
Vladimir Putin hugs a Bulgarian shepherd dog, after receiving it as a
present from Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boiko Borisov in Sofia, on
November 13, 2010.
(Reuters/Oleg Popov) #
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides with motorcycle enthusiasts
during his visit to a bike festival in the southern Russian city of
Novorossiisk, on August 29, 2011. Putin kicked off an election campaign
on Monday revving up his three-wheeled Harley Davidson at the head of a
bikers motorcade.
(Reuters/Alexei Druzhinin/RIA Novosti) #
Vladimir Putin talks to a member of the "Lena-2010" Russian-German
scientific expedition on Samoilovsky Island in Far Eastern Federal
District, on August 23, 2010. Putin traveled beyond the Arctic Circle on
Monday to look into evidence on climate change after a record heatwave
devastated central Russia this summer.
(Reuters/Ria Novosti/Alexei Druzhinin) #
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin looks at a bear while visiting the South
Kamchatka Federal Sanctuary at Russia's Pacific Kamchatka peninsula, on
August 24, 2010.
(AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin) #
Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides a horse in southern Siberia's Tuva region, on August 3, 2009.
(Reuters/RIA Novosti/Alexei Druzhinin) #
Vladimir Putin swims in a lake in southern Siberia's Tuva region, on August 3, 2009.
(Reuters/RIA Novosti/Alexei Druzhinin) #
Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signs autographs for kids
outside Khabarovsk, on August 27, 2010 during a visit in the region.
(Alexei Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images) #
Vladimir Putin aims at a whale with a crossbow, to take a piece of its
skin for analysis on the Olga Bay, some 240 kilometers north-east of
Nakhodka, on August 25, 2010.
(Alexei Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images) #
Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attaches a satellite tracking
tag to a Beluga whale named Dasha during his visit to Chkalov island,
some 700 kms northeast of the city of Khabarovsk, on July 31, 2009.
(Alexei Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images) #
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin plays piano during a charity concert in Saint Petersburg, on December 10, 2010.
(Alexei Nikolsky/AFP/Getty Images) #
Vladimir Putin feeds a young moose at the national park "Losiny Ostrov" in northeast Moscow, on June 5, 2010.
(Reuters/RIA Novosti/Alexei Druzhinin) #
In this Monday, August 29, 2011 photo, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin talks to leader of Nochniye Volki (the Night Wolves) biker group,
Alexander Zaldostanov -- also known as Khirurg (the Surgeon) -- at a
bikers' festival in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, Russia.
(AP photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin) #
Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin steers a boat near a bear on the
shoreline, at the South Kamchatka Sanctuary outside
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the Far East of Russia, on August 24, 2010.
(Alexei Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images) #
Vladimir Putin walks through brush in southern Siberia's Tuva region, rifle in hand, on August 15, 2007.
(Reuters/RIA Novosti/KREMLIN) #
Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sits inside a T-90AM tank during
his visit an exhibition in the Urals town of Nizhny Tagil, on September
9, 2011.
(Reuters/Alexei Druzhinin/RIA Novosti/Pool) #
Vladimir Putin strikes iron as he visits "Talsy" Architecture and
Ethnography Museum in the Irkutsk Region of eastern Siberia on August 1,
2009.
(Alexei Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images) #
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin takes part in a training session
for young ice hockey players before the start of the "Golden Puck" youth
tournament finals in Moscow, on April 15, 2011.
(Reuters/Alexei Nikolsky/RIA Novosti) #
Vladimir Putin takes part in an expedition to Ubsunur Hollow Biosphere
Preserve to inspect the snow leopard's habitat in Tyva Republic in the
Siberian Federal District, on October 29, 2010.
(Reuters/Ria Novosti/Alexei Druzhinin) #
A video grab shows Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin looking
through the porthole of the "Mir-2" mini-submersible in Lake Baikal, on
August 1, 2009. Putin dove into the depths of the lake aboard the
mini-submersible on Saturday, descending 1,400 meters (4,600 ft) below
the surface of the world's deepest lake to inspect valuable gas
crystals.
(Reuters/RIA Novosti/Kremlin) #
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin adjusts his sunglasses as he
watches an air show during MAKS-2011, the International Aviation and
Space Show, in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, on August 17, 2011.
(Dmitry Kostyukov/AFP/Getty Images) #
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.