Putin the adventurer: Spearfishing in Siberia
Russian state TV airs video of the president engaged in his latest outdoor exploits.
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin has gone spearfishing in southern Siberia’s mountains, the latest outdoor exploit for the adventure-loving Russian leader.
Video released Saturday by Russian state television showed Putin, 64, steering an inflatable boat and fishing bare-chested with a rod, accompanied by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other officials.
“It’s a good catch,” a beaming Putin said, displaying his spoils.
During the trip last week across pristine mountain rivers and lakes in a forested area near the Mongolian border, Putin also tried for the first time to fish underwater with a spear gun.
Video showed Putin moving underwater in a swimsuit and shooting a pike. “It’s very sly and cautious,” the president said of his prey after getting out.
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the president spent two hours pursuing a pike before finally getting it.
The Russian leader has frequently offered macho images of his sporting life, which has included flying combat jets, riding horses, scuba diving and riding a horse bare-chested. A longtime judo master, he now regularly plays ice hockey.
In other televised escapades portraying Putin the outdoorsman, he accompanied a flock of cranes on a motorized hang glider, shot a tiger with a tranquilizer gun, tracked polar bears and released leopards into a wildlife sanctuary.