He reportedly saved a TV crew from the jaws of a tiger and flexed his muscles before cameras in Siberia.
Vladimir Putin's macho image has made him plenty of fans among Russian women — but according to one magazine, that doesn't quite make him the nation's sexiest politician.
Sex & the City magazine's ranking of the nation's 20 sexiest politicians gives the top slot to Boris Nemtsov, a former opposition leader widely seen as a spent political force. Prime Minister Putin came in second.
"This is good news ... but I don't take it too seriously," said Nemtsov, who is pictured sitting on a bed, barefoot and dressed in a gray silk shirt and chinos.
It's rare that Putin loses out in any popularity contest at home — where he is widely admired for having restored national pride and stability after the difficult post-Soviet years under Boris Yeltsin.
Sex & the City magazine's ranking of the nation's 20 sexiest politicians gives the top slot to Boris Nemtsov, a former opposition leader widely seen as a spent political force. Prime Minister Putin came in second.
"This is good news ... but I don't take it too seriously," said Nemtsov, who is pictured sitting on a bed, barefoot and dressed in a gray silk shirt and chinos.
It's rare that Putin loses out in any popularity contest at home — where he is widely admired for having restored national pride and stability after the difficult post-Soviet years under Boris Yeltsin.
Russia remains a country with limited press freedoms and carefully controlled images of its leadership — so it's unlikely an opposition figure could have pushed Putin into second place on weightier matters like leadership qualities.
Still, Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin lawmaker, said he was taken aback.
Still, Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin lawmaker, said he was taken aback.
"Putin is way better than Nemtsov," he said. "He's one of the sexiest politicians in the world." His looks may be average, he conceded, but his "decisive, harsh and unbending" character makes him extremely attractive.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov gave an embarrassed laugh when asked about the result — and said it was hard for him to comment.
A black belt in judo and an accomplished skier, ex-KGB spy Putin has been snapped in an array of macho shots, from flying a fighter jet to strutting his stuff on a nuclear submarine.
Last summer, photographs of a bare-chested Putin fishing, horse riding and off-roading in Siberia with Prince Albert of Monaco prompted admiring women to flood local newspaper Web sites with excited letters.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov gave an embarrassed laugh when asked about the result — and said it was hard for him to comment.
A black belt in judo and an accomplished skier, ex-KGB spy Putin has been snapped in an array of macho shots, from flying a fighter jet to strutting his stuff on a nuclear submarine.
Last summer, photographs of a bare-chested Putin fishing, horse riding and off-roading in Siberia with Prince Albert of Monaco prompted admiring women to flood local newspaper Web sites with excited letters.
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