There is a dreadful sense of déjà vu to the sight of Vladimir Putin parading bare-chested for photographers while on holiday in Siberia. The Russian prime minister’s annual picture shoot suggests an inordinate pride in his pectorals and his athletic image.

Hard man’s holiday photos

See a slideshow of Vladimir Putin’s outdoor break in Siberia

It is scarcely coincidental that the pictures were published just before Saturday’s first anniversary of Russia’s nasty little war with neighbouring Georgia. That conflict against a tiresome former Soviet republic is seen in Moscow as a triumph for Russian hard power, and Mr Putin as the strong man who inspired it.