Water from Antarctica, bandoneon and a goat — Forbes remembers the most unusual and unexpected gifts given to the Russian President by the businessmen and politics for the last 15 years.

Water from Antarctica lake

Vice prime minister of the Far East Yury Trutnev has presented Vladimir Putin with the water from Vostok Lake in Antarctica, buried under the 4-kilometer ice mass and isolated from the outside world several million years ago. The President asked him if he had drunken the water himself. Hearing “no” he joked: “It would be really intriguing: dinosaurs drank this water, as well as Trutnev.”

But after the said meeting a controversy arose about the authenticity of water. It seemed impossible that the water could come from the lake to which the scientists had been trying to make their way for a few score of years. Allegedly the gift had been presented several days earlier than the boring machines reached the Far East. But the expedition from Russia lead by the oceanologist and polar explorer Valery Lukin confirmed that the water came from the lake.

Exclusive painted weight

In November 2014 Putin visited Made in Russia exposition. Titan company stand engaged his attention with the weight inscribed with “Everything will be set in stone” and painted in Palekh style.

Photo: tass.ru

Having noticed the interest of the President, Artem Artemyev, the head of Titan company, complimented Putin with the weight.

Letter to Putin

The painting named “Letter to Putin” was given to the Russian President in 2012 by Alexander Shokhin, the president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. According to Shokhin, he bought it in Ekaterinburg primarily for its name.

The Super Bowl ring

In 2005 an American businessman Robert Kraft complimented Vladimir Putin with the Super Bowl ring which is an award in the National Football League given to the winners of the league's annual championship game. Later in 2013 Kraft claimed that he just wanted to boast of the ring and wasn’t going to give it to Putin. The Russian President’s press secretary replied to it: “If the gentleman really feels such excruciating pain from his loss, then the President is ready to present him with any other ring which he is able to buy.” Later Kraft confessed that he had been joking, and the ring was really the gift.

A t-shirt of Spartak Football Club

The personalized t-shirt of FC Spartak was given to Putin by the billionaires Leonid Fedun and Vagit Alekperov in August 2014 when the President visited the opening of the FC Spartak stadium. It’s expected that in 2018 the stadium will host the FIFA World Cup matches.

Bandoneon

In July 2014 Putin visited Argentine where he was presented with the gift from the Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. It was a bandoneon — the musical instrument used for tango.

Photo: Reuters

“This bandoneon is a symbol of tango, Argentine, its culture, and brotherhood,” said the host of the formal evening. In his turn Putin complimented Fernandez with the hand-made silver box.

The song from Indonesian President

Vladimir Putin spent his 61^st birthday on Bali Island in Indonesia where the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit had been held. The president of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono surprised Putin with the gift which bemused the Russian President judging by the photographs. Yudhoyono has sung Happy Birthday to You all the while playing the guitar.

Buffy the sheepdog and Connie the Labrador

Knowing about the tremulous attitude of Vladimir Putin to dogs he was complimented with these pets several times. The black Labrador Connie who scared the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel was given to Putin by Sergey Shoygu in 2000. Bulgarian sheepdog Buffy was presented by the former prime minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov in November of 2010. But the puppy was not able to melt the ice in Russian-Bulgarian relations. Bulgaria hasn’t given its approval on gas pipe line construction on its territory. And the South Stream project was closed.

Siberian Tiger

In October 2008 Vladimir Putin invited the correspondents in his Novo-Ogarevo residency to share with a joy which was not connected with the economics. Having returned home where he’s been awaited by the correspondents, he’s asked to not make any noise, shout, and, what’s more important, squeal. Behind the closed door of the room there was a two-month old Siberian tiger given to the President as a gift for his birthday.

Photo: ria.ru

He didn’t confess who gave him such present, but promised to settle her in a good zoo. Today the carnivore named Masha lives in Safari-park in Gelendzhik.

Skazka the goat

As a symbol of the upcoming 2003 upcoming the Moscow mayor of that time Yury Luzhkov has given to Vladimir Putin a white nanny-goat named Skazka (Fairy tale).

Akita Yume

The rare Akita puppy named Yume (a dream in Japanese) was given to Putin by the Japanese Governor of Akita prefecture Norihisa Satake in 2011. It was a way of gratitude for the help received from Russia in order to liquidate the effects of the earthquake. In reply the Russian President sent to Japan a Siberian cat that received a Russian name Mir.

Vadik the horsey

In 2005 on Kazan race track, where the International Competitions on Equestrian Sport for the Presidential prize were held, Putin received the smallest horse in the world with just 54 cm in height. Actually, the horse was named Guppi before it was given to the President, but in Moscow it was renamed to Vadik.

Hockey helmet

In early 2014 Vladimir Putin and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko played the hockey at the Bolshoy Ice Dome in Sochi. Just before the play Lukashenko gave a hockey helmet to the Russian president mentioning that there’s no such helmet in his possession.

Photo: ria.ru

“It’s very light,” said Lukashenko while giving the present. “And its production started just several months ago.”

Cuckoo clock

At the opening ceremony of Hannover Messe-2013, the largest exhibition of industrial novelties held in Hannover, the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel complimented Putin with the cuckoo clock adorned with the German coat of arms.

Photo: Corbis

It is unlikely that she tried to allude to the constant delays of the Russian President. But in 2014 it was Merkel who had to wait for the meeting with Putin for about four hours, while he was with official visit in Belgrade.

Three-ruble coin

The President has a memorable Sochi-2014 silver coin with a 3-ruble face value. It was given to Putin by the head of Sberbank German Gref in 2011 at the Investment Forum in Sochi.