MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin stripped off to his bathing trunksand immersed himself in the freezing waters of a lake late on Thursday,observing an Orthodox Christian ritual to mark the feast of Epiphany.
Russian state television showed Putin marching onto the ice of frozen LakeSeliger, about 400 km (250 miles) north of Moscow, dressed in a sheepskincoat and felt boots.
With his coat and boots removed, he then walked down a set of wooden stepsinto a hole in the ice, crossed himself, and dipped his head under thewater before surfacing.
Air temperatures at the time were around six degrees Celsius below zero (21degrees Fahrenheit).
Each year on Epiphany, Orthodox believers immerse themselves in rivers andlakes to commemorate the baptism of Jesus Christ in the River Jordan.
Putin, who is campaigning for re-election in a March 18 presidentialelection, grew up under Communist rule where open shows of religion werefrowned upon.
As president, he has become a frequent attender of Russian Orthodoxceremonies, and has given the church a major voice in society.
The Russian leader, who is 65, has a track record of stripping to the waistin public to reveal his torso.
In August last year he was photographed with his shirt off catching fish ina mountain lake in Siberia and in August 2009, a bare-chested Putin waspictured riding a horse during a Siberian holiday.