After catching a 21-kilo fish, piloting a F1 race car and flying in a supersonic warplane, among many other PR stunts, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday was shown plunging into the Black Sea waters in a mini-submarine to explore a shipwreck off Crimea, the peninsula Russia annexed after seizing it from war-torn Ukraine.
According to an AFP dispatch, Putin — clad in a beige uniform — plunged to a depth of 83 meters seated alongside the pilot in the glass-bubble cabin of the Dutch-made vessel.
“83 meters is a pretty substantial depth,” Putin told journalists in televised comments after the dive. “It was interesting.”
The Kremlin leader went underwater to view the mid Byzantine-era wreckage in the Black Sea off Crimea, which included a trove of 10th century pottery.
The remains were discovered off the coast of Sevastopol by Russian divers earlier this year.
“It is a galleon that was transporting civilian cargo through the bay of Balaclava,” Putin said.