Photos: Russian President Putin flies with the cranes

Posted Sep 06, 2012

Russian President Vladimir Putin flies in a motorized hang glider alongside two Siberian white cranes, on the Yamal Peninsula, in Russia Wednesday Sept. 5, 2012. Putin took part in a flight as part of a program devised by environmentalists to lead the endangered cranes, which were raised in captivity, on their migration to Asia.

Putin has become alternately notorious and beloved for an array of adventurous stunts, including posing with a tiger cub and riding a horse bare-chested.(AP)

1 of 21

Russian President Vladimir Putin flies in a motorized hang glider alongside two Siberian white cranes, on the Yamal Peninsula, in Russia Wednesday Sept. 5, 2012. Putin took part in a flight as part of a program devised by environmentalists to lead the endangered cranes, which were raised in captivity, on their migration to Asia. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)
2 of 21

A flock of Siberian white cranes stand near a motorized motorized hang glider on the Yamal Peninsula, in Russia Wednesday Sept. 5, 2012. Russian President Vladimir Putin later flew in the hang glider alongside the cranes as part of a program devised by environmentalists to lead the endangered cranes, which were raised in captivity, on their migration to Asia. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)
3 of 21

Russian President Vladimir Putin waits in a motorized hang glider next to a Siberian white crane, on the Yamal Peninsula, in Russia Wednesday Sept. 5, 2012. Putin took part in a flight as part of a program devised by environmentalists to lead the endangered cranes, which were raised in captivity, on their migration to Asia. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)
4 of 21

Russian President Vladimir Putin (front seat) watches from a motorized hang glider as a Siberian white crane takes off, on the Yamal Peninsula, in Russia Wednesday Sept. 5, 2012. Putin took part in a flight as part of a program devised by environmentalists to lead a flock of endangered cranes, which were raised in captivity, on their migration to Asia. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)
5 of 21

Russian President Vladimir Putin (front seat) watches from a motorized hang glider as a Siberian white crane takes off, on the Yamal Peninsula, in Russia Wednesday Sept. 5, 2012. Putin took part in a flight as part of a program devised by environmentalists to lead the endangered cranes, which were raised in captivity, on their migration to Asia. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)
6 of 21

Russian President Vladimir Putin, (foreground) flies in a motorized hang glider alongside two Siberian white cranes, on the Yamal Peninsula, in Russia Wednesday Sept. 5, 2012. Putin took part in a flight as part of a program devised by environmentalists to lead the endangered cranes, which were raised in captivity, on their migration to Asia. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Presidential Press Service)
7 of 21

FILE - In this Wednesday Sept. 5, 2012, file photo Russian President Vladimir Putin, foreground, flies in a motorized hang glider alongside a Siberian white crane, on the Yamal Peninsula, in Russia. Putin has become alternately notorious and beloved for an array of adventurous stunts, including posing with a tiger cub and riding a horse bare-chested. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)
8 of 21

Russian President Vladimir Putin flies in a motorized hang glider near a Siberian white crane, on the Yamal Peninsula, in Russia Wednesday Sept. 5, 2012. Putin took part in a flight as part of a program devised by environmentalists to lead the endangered cranes, which were raised in captivity, on their migration to Asia. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)
9 of 21

Russian President Vladimir Putin flies in a motorized hang glider alongside two Siberian white cranes, on the Yamal Peninsula, in Russia Wednesday Sept. 5, 2012. Putin took part in a flight as part of a program devised by environmentalists to lead the endangered cranes, which were raised in captivity, on their migration to Asia. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)
10 of 21

Russian President Vladimir Putin flies in a motorized hang glider alongside two Siberian white cranes, on the Yamal Peninsula, in Russia Wednesday Sept. 5, 2012. Putin took part in a flight as part of a program devised by environmentalists to lead the endangered cranes, which were raised in captivity, on their migration to Asia. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)
11 of 21

In this Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2006 file photo, Ultralight pilot Chris Gullikson with Operation Migration, flies over head with whooping cranes in formation over the tarmac at the Dunnellon Marion County Airport in Dunnellon, Fla. Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly planning to put on a fake beak and fly a motorized hang-glider to lead a flock of endangered young Siberian white cranes on part of their migration to Asia. The cranes, raised in captivity, do not know how to fly south, and environmentalists have to devise an imitation lead crane to show them the way. (AP Photo / Star Banner, Doug Engle)
12 of 21

Russian President Vladimir Putin flies in a motorized hang glider above a flock of Siberian white cranes, on the Yamal Peninsula, in Russia Wednesday Sept. 5, 2012. Putin took part in a flight as part of a program devised by environmentalists to lead the endangered cranes, which were raised in captivity, on their migration to Asia. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)
13 of 21

Russian President Vladimir Putin flies in a motorized hang glider alongside two Siberian white cranes, on the Yamal Peninsula, in Russia Wednesday Sept. 5, 2012. Putin took part in a flight as part of a program devised by environmentalists to lead the endangered cranes, which were raised in captivity, on their migration to Asia. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)
14 of 21

Russian President Vladimir Putin stands beside a motorized hang glider on the Yamal Peninsula, in Russia Wednesday Sept. 5, 2012. Putin took part in a flight as part of a program devised by environmentalists to lead the endangered cranes, which were raised in captivity, on their migration to Asia. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)
15 of 21

FILE - In this Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008 file pool photo then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin holds a tranquilizer gun in a Russian Academy of Sciences reserve in Russia's Far East. Putin has become alternately notorious and beloved for an array of adventurous stunts, including posing with a tiger cub and riding a horse bare-chested. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, POOL, file)
16 of 21

FILE In this Sept. 2010 photo released on Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010, then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin carries a hunting rifle during his trip in Ubsunur Hollow in the Siberian Tyva region (also referred to as Tuva), on the border with Mongolia, Russia. Putin has become alternately notorious and beloved for an array of adventurous stunts, including posing with a tiger cub and riding a horse bare-chested. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Dmitry Astakhov, Government Press Service, file)
17 of 21

FILE- In this Thursday, April 29, 2010 file photo then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, right, fixes a radio beacon on a neck of a polar bear, which was anaesthetized, during a visit to a research institute at the Franz Josef Land archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Putin has become alternately notorious and beloved for an array of adventurous stunts, including posing with a tiger cub and riding a horse bare-chested. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Government Press Service, file)
18 of 21

FILE- In this Monday, Aug. 29, 2011 photo, then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, center left, and leader of Nochniye Volki (the Night Wolves) biker group, Alexander Zaldostanov, also known as Khirurg (the Surgeon), right, ride bikes at a motor bikers' festival in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, Russia. Putin has become alternately notorious and beloved for an array of adventurous stunts, including posing with a tiger cub and riding a horse bare-chested. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, POOL, file)
19 of 21

FILE- In this Sept. 2010 photo released on Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010, then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides a horse during his trip in Ubsunur Hollow in the Siberian Tyva region (also referred to as Tuva), on the border with Mongolia, Russia. Putin has become alternately notorious and beloved for an array of adventurous stunts, including posing with a tiger cub and riding a horse bare-chested. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, POOL)
20 of 21

FILE - In this March 20, 2000 file photo, President Vladimir Putin, wearing a blue helmet and an oxygen mask, sits in Su-27 fighter jet after his flight into the war zone in Chechnya, in Grozny, Russia. Putin has become alternately notorious and beloved for an array of adventurous stunts, including posing with a tiger cub and riding a horse bare-chested. (AP Photo/ITAR-TASS, Presidential Press Service, file)
21 of 21

Russian President Vladimir Putin, second left) speaks with ornithologists after a flight in a motorized hang glider on the Yamal Peninsula, in Russia Wednesday Sept. 5, 2012. Putin took part in a flight as part of a program devised by environmentalists to lead a flock of endangered Siberian white cranes, which were raised in captivity, on their migration to Asia. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service)