He's driven a big truck, flown in a Russian fighter jet and fished shirtless on national television.
Now comes Vladimir Putin's latest image-boosting escapade, a visit to a Russian wildlife preserve that gave him the chance to wear camouflage, stalk through the woods and shoot a tiger - all for a good cause.
Russia's state-run television showed footage Monday 1 September 2008 of the tough-talking prime minister's visit to the Far East, home of the rare Ussuri tiger. Russian media reports said Putin aided a program to track the tigers by shooting a 5-year-old female cat with a tranquilizer gun after it had freed itself from a restraint.
The televised footage showed Putin, deep in the woods, placing a collar with a tracking device around the knocked-out tiger's neck and patting its cheek like a pet. "She'll remember us," he said.
In eight years as president, the popular Putin burnished his image with televised appearances that painted him as a tough, healthy and energetic young leader eager to take on new challenges.
