Published 6 September 2012
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has tracked a Siberian tiger and posed with a polar bear, on September 5 took his love of wildlife to new heights by flying with cranes. The flight from Salekhard in an ultralight plane was intended to prompt the young Siberian cranes, bred in captivity, to venture out on their migration route -- and to bolster Putin's image as a nature-loving, clean-living outdoorsman. (Reuters)