Putin is mad as well as bad

Just how utterly bonkers a photo-opportunity can Vladimir Putin and his team come up with next? I wrote a couple of years ago about his antics which have included swimming in ice cold water, shooting wild animals, saving animals, flying a fighter jet, fishing, practising judo while stripped to the waste and much more. Roughly a year ago I awarded him a tongue in cheek Communicator of the Week award.

Now he has topped it all by flying a motorised hang glider - while dressed as a bird - in a bid to lead a rare breed of Siberian cranes on their migration. If this were a plot in The Thick of It we would all say Armando Iannucci had gone too far. David Cameron has been ridiculed for a photo op with huskies, at least he didn't dress up as one.

I don't know what Putin's communications team are on but it isn't vodka:

Putin dressed as a bird (that'll fox 'em)

 

Putin dressed as a white bird looking at a brown bird...

 

No head of state's media team can ever hope to exceed the creativeness of these photo opportunities. Or would ever want to.