18 photos that show Vladimir Putin doesn't mess around
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Jul 26, 2021, 12:47 IST
After graduating college, Putin spent the next 16 years as an intelligence officer for the KGB where he learned the basics of becoming a sort of Bond man.
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No guns, no problem. Putin also holds a sixth-degree Judo black belt and a second black belt in Kyokushin kaikan karate. The "sweeping hip throw" is his signature move.
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The high council of Russian bikers unanimously voted him into a Hells Angels rank. His nickname is "Abaddon," a Hebrew word that fittingly translates to "The Destroyer."
He is all about fast cars too. Putin once drove a Renault Formula One car and reached the maximum speed of 150 miles per hour.
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Putin promised Russia's junior ice hockey team he'd master the sport following their win in the 2011 world tournament. Here he is leading the team in a friendly game against Finland.
He also excels in outdoor sports like hunting, fishing, and hiking. Here he walks with a rifle in southern Siberia's Tuva region.
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And in 2009, Putin showed off the most advanced of all the swim strokes, the butterfly. At 56-years-old, he rotates both arms simultaneously with a difficult two-legged kick in a freezing Siberian lake.
An expert fisherman, Putin poses for a photo with a massive pike he caught while fishing in Siberia.
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Former President Bush knew Putin loved the sport so he invited him to Walker's Point in Maine for a quick fishing trip. Naturally, Putin was the only one who caught anything.
Taking to the skies Putin flew a Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber jet while conducting a training mission.
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He also flew a motorized hang glider, in order to help endangered Siberian cranes begin their migration routes.
He has led scientists on various expeditions like this one from a tiger hunt in the Russian far-east. Putin was the one who shot this 5-year-old tiger with a tranquilizer dart, which allowed researchers to tag the big cat with a satellite tracker.
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He did the same thing with this 507-pound polar bear in 2010.
And since we're counting, Putin also shot an endangered grey whale with a crossbow from a motorboat, again to help researchers track the animal.
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He also goes on underwater expeditions to see some of Russia's historical shipwrecks.
In 2011, he went on a dive with a team to an archaeological site off the Taman peninsular in southern Russia.
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The hunt was "successful," given that Putin found two artifacts that were placed there by the archaeologists beforehand.
When his long-time Judo coach died, Putin shooed away his security detail. Here, the man walks, and mourns, alone.
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From Judo extraordinaire, to former KGB operative ...