Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited a nature reserve that houses rare wild horses.
Passing through the Orenburg region in the southern Ural Mountains on October 3, Putin led the Przewalski's horses from a fenced enclosure into the steppe.
The reserve serves as a breeding ground for the rare horses, which are nearly extinct in the wild in Russia.
It currently houses a small team of horses from France, which are being acclimated before being reintroduced into their natural habitat.
Putin's appearance with the horses was his latest with untamed animals. The president has relished burnishing his image as an action-man in such stage-managed media events.
He has petted a polar bear, ridden a horse bare-chested, flown a motorized hang glider with cranes, and shot a tiger with a tranquilizer gun to tag it with a GPS collar.
