Moscow:
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin reached out to the politically indifferent younger generation by making a spectacular entrance on a three-wheel Harley Davidson at a motorbike festival ahead of the December parliamentary polls.
In yet another macho stunt, Putin arrived on a three-wheeled Harley-Davidson followed by a group of about 50 bikers at the international motorbike festival organised by the biker youth group 'Night Wolves' in the Russian Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk, state-run Rossiya 24 news channel
reported.
58-year-old Putin, an avowed fan of bikes, called the participating bikers as his "brothers".
After a spectacular show replicating a battle episode between the Soviet and Nazi soldiers, Putin praised the history of Novorossiysk and reminded the public that back in World War II children were evacuated from the city in motorcycle sidecars.
"I want to tell you, brothers, it's really great that you have not forgotten the heroism of the past," he told the crowd.
He said the defenders of Novorossiisk had a great slogan which was "relevant today for bikers and for Russia... Only movement forwards".
Putin also called for the unity of multi-ethnic Russian nation, a timely call amid growing ethnic and racial intolerance in Russia in general and the youth in particular.
Putin, in the past, has also been pictured flying a fighter aircraft and hunting Siberian tigers.
The Russian strongman is the honorary chairman of the ruling United Russia Party, which hopes to get at least 300 seats in the 450-strong the State Duma in the December 4 elections so as to maintain its dominance in the Lower House of Parliament.
The election to the Lower House will culminate in the crucial presidential polls due in March 2012 but whose date has yet to be officially confirmed.
It is not clear whether President Dmitry Medvedev will stand for a second term or make way for his mentor Putin, who occupied the Kremlin from 2000-2008. However, he has made it clear that he will not stand against Putin.
At a meeting with the leaders of Russia's seven registered political parties yesterday in his Sochi summer residence, Medvedev warned that ultranationalist sentiment would be a taboo in the campaign.
"We must completely rule out any attempts to fan national or ethnic hatred. It would be utterly unacceptable. This is not just a request - this is my unconditional demand," Medvedev said in a televised statement.