Here’s Vlad Putin peak

Already known for his flinty gaze and rock-hard muscles, Russian prime minister Putin could find himself immortalised as the name of a mountain peak in Kyrgyzstan.

Here's Vlad Putin peak

Already known for his flinty gaze and rock-hard muscles, Russian prime minister Putin could find himself immortalised as the name of a mountain peak in Kyrgyzstan.

At 14,587 feet, the mountain chosen to become Peak Vladimir Putin doesn't come close to the 17,100 foot Peak Yeltsin, near Kyrgyzstan's Lake Issyk Kul, let alone reach the soaring 24,400 foot height of Peak Lenin near the country's southern city of Osh.

But there's little risk that Russia will see the gesture by Kyrgyzstan's new prime minister Almazbek Atambayev, who signed the bill to rename the peak, as anything other than a sign of friendship.

In the past few years Putin's macho image has come to the fore with a series of publicity stunts, such as shooting a tiger with tranquillisers, and a whale with a skin-sampler gun, and collaring a polar bear.

Atambayev, whose new coalition government is widely seen as pro-Russian, flew to Moscow last week for his first meeting with Putin as Kyrgyzstan's leader. Kyrgyzstan has also named a mountain after Santa Claus, in a bid to boost tourism.

According to Kyrgyz media reports, Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev signed the draft law to name Vladimir Putin Peak late last year.

Parliament is expected to pass it in the near future. Local analysts have suggested that the initiative is a way of expressing gratitude to the Russian authorities.

4,446 metres
The height of the peak in the Tian Shan mountain range, which will be called the Peak of Vladimir Putin