Vladimir Putin's Lessons In Machismo
Vladimir Putin, Russia's diminutive ex-spy-cum-president-cum-prime-minister-cum-president has gone to great lengths, distances, and depths to cultivate his image as a swashbuckling man of action. Here are some of the Russian leader's most glaringly, er, robust photo ops over the years.
PHOTO GALLERY: Putin's Carefully Crafted Swagger
Kyrgyzstan Prime Minister Almazbek Atambaev has signed a bill that would name one of that mountainous country's peaks after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
The bill is on its way to parliament for final approval.
If parliament confirms the plan, a 4,500-meter peak in the northern Chui Province would become "Vladimir Putin Peak."
Kyrgyzstan has already named one mountain peak after former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
There was no word whether Putin -- who has cultivated a masculine image through photo ops on horseback, in submersibles, tracking tigers, bare-chestedly toting a rifle, flying aircraft, and martial-arts training, among other things -- has any plans to try and tackle the Kyrgyz summit.
-- RFE/RL Central Newsroom