VLADIMIR PUTIN: Russian Prime Minister, former president, sometime firefighter, adventurer, scientist, martial arts expert… the list is seemingly endless.

Photos from his summer and winter breaks depict Putin in an array of hard-man poses – and this slideshow brings you the best.
TheJournal.ie is convinced Putin hears the A-Team theme in his head for some of these photos:

Putin pics: cultivating the hard-man image

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Russia Putin
Putin stares down a bear while visiting the South Kamchatka Federal Sanctuary in the east of Siberia last week. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Pool) Source: (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Pool)
Russia Putin
The patient looks suitably worried that his prime minister is getting involved in his treatment. Putin visits air force pilot Vyacheslav Malkov (in bed) after his plane was shot down by Georgian forces in August 2008. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Pool)Source: (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Pool)
Russia Medvedev Putin
Hanging out with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on a skiing trip in the south of the country last January. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Pool)Source: AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Pool
Russia Putin
Putin shows his sensitive side by feeding a baby elk in a Moscow park where animals roam free. (AP Photo/Alexei Druzhinin, Pool)Source: AP Photo/Alexei Druzhinin, Pool
Russia Putin
A bare-chested Putin goes horseriding in Siberia during his summer holidays last year. (AP Photo/ RIA Novosti, Alexei Drizhinin, Pool)Source: AP Photo/ RIA Novosti, Alexei Drizhinin, Pool
Russia Putin
Not a man to be stopped by seriously inclement weather, Putin heads off into the Siberian hills on horseback in February. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Pool)Source: AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Pool
Ukraine Putin The Biker
Putin burns rubber on a Harley Davidson Lehman Trike after meeting with bikers at a camp in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula last month.(AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)Source: AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool
Russia Putin
Putin holds a crossbow as he sits on a rubber boat at the Olga Harbor during a scientific expedition, to study gray whales last week. Any sensible whale in the locale legged it. (Alexei Druzhinin/AP/Press Association Images)Source: (Alexei Druzhinin/AP/Press Association Images)
Russia Putin Forest Fires
Putin sits in the co-pilot's seat among the crew of a firefighting airplane in early August, and helps put out two of the hundreds of wildfires that swept western Russia for weeks this summer.(AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Pool)Source: AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Pool
Russia Putin
No, wait! He's just a regular guy! Putin fills the tank of a yellow Russian-made Lada Kalina at petrol station on the newly-opened Chita-Khabarovsk highway on Friday. (AP Photo/ RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, pool)Source: (AP Photo/ RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, pool)

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The following video shows judo black belt Putin pulling some slick moves. In 2008, he released a DVD called “Let’s Learn Judo with Vladimir Putin”.

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