Vladimir Putin

PUTIN.jpg

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with members of the Presidential Human Rights Council in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Nov. 12, 2012. (AP Photo/Yuri Kochetkov, Pool)

** FILE ** Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov (left), President Vladimir Putin (center) and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (bottom right) watch the Victory Day parade in Moscow on Wednesday, May 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russia Nationalist Ho_Lea.jpg

Russian President Vladimir Putin (center) walks with religious leaders of various denominations at Red Square in Moscow as they go to place flowers at a statue of Minin and Pozharsky, the leaders of a struggle against foreign invaders in 1612, to mark the National Unity Day on Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)

Russia Putin~s Health_Lea.jpg

Russian President Vladimir Putin flies in a motorized hang glider alongside two Siberian white cranes over Russia's Yamal Peninsula on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)

Russia Putin~s Birthd_Lea.jpg

Artist Alexei Sergiyenko shows off his paintings of Russian President Vladimir Putin during the opening of the exhibition "Putin: The Most Kind-Hearted Man in the World" at the Flacon design workshop in Moscow on Sunday Oct. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)

PUTIN.jpg

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, left, stroll at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Dmitry Astakhov, Government Press Service)

Russia Putin_Live.jpg

**FILE** Russian President Vladimir Putin walks prior to a Sept. 26, 2012, ceremony of receiving credentials in Moscow's Kremlin. (Associated Press)

20120906-185027-pic-230527739.jpg

Mr. Putin wore a white crane costume for his flight, the latest in a series of stunts that have included diving for archaeological artifacts, later found to have been planted; riding a horse bare-chested; and flying a fighter jet. (Associated Press)

20120906-185027-pic-173772563.jpg

Russian President Vladimir Putin flies in a motorized hang glider alongside two Siberian white cranes on Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula. His flight was part of an effort to teach the endangered birds, raised in captivity, to follow the craft to their southern migration route to Central Asia. (Associated Press)