Vadimir Putin pulled up to a hotel in central Moscow earlier in May in a Russian-made SUV, dressed casually in jeans and a light jacket. Carrying a bouquet of flowers, he walked unhurriedly into the lobby and embraced his former schoolteacher Vera Gurevich, who kissed him on both cheeks.
He then helped Gurevich into his car and drove her to dinner at the Kremlin.
It came just a day after several western media outlets, citing a European intelligence report, claimed Putin had spent weeks hiding in an underground bunker, gripped by fears of assassination or even a coup.
The televised meeting was carefully crafted to reinforce a very different image of the Russian leader, one which he has refined over 25 years in power: the approachable, confident president, a man of the people casually dropping in on an old teacher.