RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER Vladimir Putin is known to be quite the macho man, a fan of judo, outdoor pursuits and fearsome wild animals. One of his manly pursuits appeared to have caught up with him when he was photographed at a press conference in Kiev on Wednesday. He sported what appeared to be a puffy and bruised left cheek, visible even under a thick layer of brown make-up. BBC News said that his office said Putin was not injured, but that the odd appearance of his visage was down to bad lighting. Others were not convinced and it remained a talking point after the prime minister apparently cancelled a dinner and cut the conference short. Andrei Kolesnikov, Kremlin correspondent for Russia’s Kommersant business daily, said:

Ukrainian, Russian and Western journalists… talked only of one thing – how did the Russian prime minister get a bruise under his eye? Could it really be the result of some tough sparring? It may have been carefully covered up, but nobody could fail to notice it.

It’s unusual for Putin to be caught off-guard by ‘bad lighting’. Here’s a little slideshow of the many, many, many, many beautifully composed shots that have made it into the press of the prime minister out and about at his rough ‘n’ tumble past-times. (Surely, ONE of those could have given him a shiner?)