i bet he's a no good puppy snuggler too

I read about this; thanks again to VS for showing me the actual clip, although the story itself filled in most of the blanks:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/07/06/russia.putin.reut/index.html
[excerpt quote]
MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Vladimir Putin's decision to stop a small boy as he walked through the Kremlin and kiss his stomach was prompted by a desire to "touch him like a kitten," the Russian president said on Thursday.

The five-year-old boy, identified as Nikita Konkin by the press, was clearly stunned by the kiss and speculation over Putin's motivation has run wild in the week since it happened.

Curious Internet users propelled the issue to the top of a list of questions put to Putin in an interactive Web cast.

"People came up and I began talking to them, among them this little boy. He seemed to me very independent, sure of himself and at the same time defenseless so to speak, an innocent boy and a very nice little boy," Putin told the Web cast.

"I tell you honestly, I just wanted to touch him like a kitten and that desire of mine ended in that act."

The Izvestia daily, which tracked down Nikita, discovered that he had refused to wash after that kiss.
[end quote]

this is very, very, very strange. especially with the context krupo provided...

Glad to be of assistance in making things very, very, very strange.

Wow. Talk about being a tool for hardcore State Dept. propaganda piping straight through CNN. The actual explanation given at the time by Putin AND the boy was that he'd told Putin he had a stomach ache.

*length=32

The duration of this video has been updated from unknown to 32 secs - length declared by bareboards2.