07 October 2012 08:00 | By Hugh Wilson
The most macho leaders in history

Vladimir Putin



Russian president Vladimir Putin presents an award to an officer in Gudermes (© Newscom-RTR)
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  • The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, sits in a motorised deltaplane near a crane at Yamalo-Nenets district (© RIA NOVOSTI/Newscom/RTR)
  • Russian president Vladimir Putin presents an award to an officer in Gudermes (© Newscom-RTR)
  • Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi (© Getty Images)
  • American politician Theodore Roosevelt, on a hunting tour in Central Africa. (© Getty Images)
  • Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez (© Newscom/RTR)
  • Founding father of the Mongolian empire, Ghengis Khan (© Getty Images)
  • US president George W Bush (© Getty Images)
  • King Henry VIII of England (© Getty Images)
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But before we get onto the competition, let's remind ourselves just what a macho leader the ex-KGB operative is.

In highly staged photo opportunities, Putin has been snapped riding horses bare-chested, swimming, building a fire, boating, shooting a whale, fishing topless and winning at judo. He does quite a lot of things without a shirt on.

And then there's the time he discovered sunken treasure. OK, it was almost certainly staged, but cameras followed Putin as he dived into the depths of the Black Sea and came up clutching two sixth-century Greek urns. You can't imagine David Cameron doing it.

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