23 Pictures That Prove Vladimir Putin Thinks He's an Action Figure

President Vladimir Putin participates in a gala ice hockey match between Russian amateur players and ice hockey stars during the Night Hockey league tournament in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Krasnodar region, Russia, May 10, 2014.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin submerges on board a C-Explorer 5 submersible to explore the sunken Russian Imperial Navy fregate Oleg, in the Gulf of Finland, July 15, 2013.

President Vladimir Putin holding a huge pike fish, after he caught it in the Tyva region on July 20, 2013 during his vacation.

Putin carries artifacts he recovered whilst diving at an archaeological site off the Taman peninsular in southern Russia, Aug. 10, 2011.

Putin, center, scuba diving at the archaeological site, Aug. 10, 2011.

As pro-Kremlin youth activists look on, Putin attempts to bend a pan during his visit to a summer camp run by the Nashi youth group at Lake Seliger in the central Tver region of Russia, Aug. 1, 2011.

Putin scales a climbing wall during his visit to the summer camp, located 248 miles north of Moscow, Aug. 1, 2011.

Putin, left, prepares to arm wrestle during his Nashi camp visit, Aug. 1, 2011.

Then Prime Minister Putin rides a horse in the foothills of Karatash, near the capital of the Khakassia region in Siberia, Feb. 25, 2010.

Putin snowmobiles in Krasnaya Polyana near the Black Sea resort of Sochi, southern Russia, Jan. 3, 2010.

During a trip to Siberia, Putin, then 56, posed for a series of photographs showing off a variety of manly skills. Here, he pilots a motorboat in the waters outside Kyzyl, Aug. 3, 2009.

Russian commentators noted that the photographs evoked associations with the mythic heroes of Russia, like the many horsemen who once rode the Russian steppe, defending it from foreign invaders, Aug. 3, 2009.

Putin hooked at least one fish from this perch, Aug. 3, 2009.

Putin prides himself on staying in peak physical condition, Aug. 3, 2009.

In the Russian press, this photo drew comparisons to Nightingale the Robber, a popular Russian folk character who lives in a nest and has mystical powers, Aug. 3, 2009.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin

The photographs were taken in the same region where Putin vacationed with Prince Albert II of Monaco in 2007. During that trip, he was photographed shooting a tiger with a tranquilizer dart, Aug. 3, 2009.

Putin's choice of a rustic vacation resonated with many Russians, who tend to be suspicious and resentful of the moneyed élite, Aug. 3, 2009.

Earlier in the trip, Putin visited the Architecture and Ethnography Museum in Irkutsk, where he worked with a pair of blacksmiths, Aug. 1, 2009.

Putin strokes a beluga whale named Dasha at a conservation facility in Khabarovsk, July 31, 2009.

Dasha is fitted with a satellite tracking device, courtesy of the Prime Minister, July 31, 2009.

At majestic Lake Baikal, Putin descended 4,500 ft. (almost 1,400 m) to the bottom, Aug. 1, 2009.

The ostensible purpose of the four-hour underwater trip was to inspect crystals containing natural gas, Aug. 1, 2009.