What a nice little PR stunt. Somehow flying a plane would change the fact that under mr Shoigu (and under Putin and Medvedev) the emergency services went from a soviet standard to ... nothing much. Well at least he got a free ride for taxpayer money!

Putin is a great image maker; he knows that image making matters. Putin knows image speaks powerfully to tell stories and frame ideas. Here is Putin, he is the Man who is on guard for Mother Russia! Now he needs to replace the Mayor of Moscow and all the others who failed to respond to this national crisis promptly. Putin will get re-elected in 2012 easily! So he should. The other guy’s image is now closely associated with eating burgers with Obama and admiring defective ipod-whose parts were probably made in China by poorly paid workers- hardly a blueprint for Modernising Russia. Of course, I am pro Putin because he projects positive image for Russia and image matters great deal.

Citizen 0 Putin is willing to respond to this crisis and it seems he is willing to correct the negative effects of neo-liberalism on Russia. Now, perhaps, the Russians can say no to more neo-liberalism and Putin is willing to correct his mistakes. However, Putin alone cannot fix Russia’s problems. One needs the citizens to say no to new oligarchs who know only how to accumulate private wealth. The Russia citizens must demand better leaders in all sectors of the society and in all levels. Putin has already announce that these forest will come under federal protection and this is good thing. I think the same should apply to other essential strategic resources. I think Putin also did the right thing when he imposed temporary ban in grain expert. So give the guy a break!

Putin is not only good for Russia but for the world because he is a leader who cares for people unlike what we have in my country--2%(puppet masters) owning 96% of the wealth, and therefore the politicians and the media; there is no democracy, Obama won because the 2% (puppet masters) picked him for international PR reasons after the debacle of the Bush years but today Obama is carrying on the sames policies that Bush had....domestically.. watered down.Health program. finance reform, good for the working people? I don't think so!!!! Internationally....speaks for itself!!....missiles in Poland, Guantanamo, Afghanistan, Iran, coup in Honduras, 7 new bases in Colombia, etc., PR 101 is right , get rid of the oligrachs, send them to Brighton Beach or Siberia...lol !!! Putin must get tough!!! fred...oregon

Fred in the last few years[since Medvedev took the top job in Russia's state], the Russian oligarchs/western version as well, have tried to curtail "the Putin influence" by trying to project a new weaker, kinder ‘softer’ image of Russia. RT did its bid to promote this new softer image of oligarchs friendly Russia after Putin. We can see how false this image is because the oligarchs went on vacation as Russia’s forest and cities burn. There must be a fundamental shakeup of the power elite in Russia after this disaster. The Russian people deserve better than what oligarch elite are willing to give them. Putin now has another chance to show whether his image of 'tough guy' is fale cover for the oligarch class or he is a real leader who is willing to defend the interests of the Russian people. So this PR stunt is an opening but it is not enough. Putin must do more to restore the confidence of the Russian people that he cares about their wellbeing. Most of all, the key members of the corrupt elite must be removed from positions of political power. This disaster shows they are not up to the task of defending the interests of the nation and its people. Putin’s image took a major hit and Medvedev fairs worse than Putin. Only drastic policy change can restore the Russia people faith on Putin’s leadership. Putin is working hard because he knows this. Of course, RT almost never brings critical analysis on Russian politics. And yes, everything you said about the U.S under Obama is spot on but that did not prevent Europe from awarding a Nobel Prize for Peace to President Obama! History will never forget this deliberate sense of self deception in the part of the European elite.

This ecological nightmare has also clarified few important things about foreign policy and who are Russia’s true friends and reliable partners. We can see who is silent and who is coming forward with moral and material support for Russia at this moment as the nation fights nasty wildfires. China is the latest of the nations ready and willing to help Russia’s fight against these wildfires. On the other hand, certain western media outlets are having little fun with Putin’s effort to boost morale by commandeering firefighting bomber! Russia is strong and it has many friends and powerful enemies. http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/08/11/15306726.html

Citizen 0, if you live in Russia be greatful that Putin is still around, without him Russia would be torn to pieces by the greedy western powers. Bottom line there would be no more Mother Russia without this man's strong hand, charisma, and political genious. He has seen us through our hardest times, and somehow manages to get us out of every difficult situation with some dignity and national pride. He genuinely cares for Russia it's people.

Fred is right. Great reply. Gulf oil crisis comes and Obama (Amabo) decides to play golf or basketball. At least look like you care , Obama! Putin is a real man. We all know that. President Reagan once said, "the camera never lies". I doubt if Obama ever was a pilot or even drives a car. He's always had a chauffeur in his life. Putin knows judo. Obama has his wife for defense. Except on his birthday when she went to Spain and left Obama hiding in a closet. Ok , so who will now ignore what I have written and focus on Reagan or Bush as a rebuttal? LOL!

This is what a real world leader does during a disaster in his country. Putin leads by example. He is a man of action, not word noise and politicing.

dear Fred, if Putin or Medvedev had cared about the world`s most richest (in every respect) country as much as you say they do, then having a decent level of fire preparedness would be a no-issue. Instead, Russia is living off the "soviet legacy" in every respect for 20 years now, and while the rich got ridiculously richer the poor stayed poor or died off at about 1,5 million people a year. He and Medvedev are only good at one thing: foreign policy but then again he is ex-KGB. At everything else I DARE you to give me actual examples of how they improved anything since 2000. This stunt he pulled now is cynical and cruel, while Russia is barely capable to handle such a crysis since its entire emergency services have been stripped to the bone this... "minister" decides to go on jollyrides. Sorry Fred, in Soviet times people would at the very least lose their positions for things like this, at least!

Call this a PR stunt. Yes it is a PR spin but it gets results. Putin is the Man. Yes, he plays many roles but he projects an image of a strong caring leader and image is often everything. http://en.rian.ru/video/20100812/160175509.html

Ok, I don't want create any panic but what about these reports http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1302225/Blocked-jetstream-blame-freak-weather-Russia-Pakistan.html http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/37524-haarp-blocked-jetstream-to-blame-for-freak-weather-in-russia-and-pakistan-say-scientists there must be any answer to this somewhere....

Call it stunt, jolly ride or whatever but you cannot deny the fact that there was no risk to Putin's safety doing this and he took that risk. He may have filled and emptied a load or two of water bombs but more then that Putin drew attention to the cause. By contrast, Zardari of Pakistan was sipping Champaign and residing in 5 stars hotels in Europe while his country was under water, thousands perished, millions lost homes and left with nothing. Had Putin didn't rescued his country from the international thieves; he would have received way better praises and attention. He is good for Russian - way better then that drunken Yeltsin or the ex communists who controlled people’s lives and killed by the millions.

Fred, at least you have 2% puppet master population, here in my country US, we have 1/10th of 1% who call the shots. Take the gulf spill for instance. BP has the national guard flying at night with arial sprayers dispersing nasty dispersant. Fossil fuel industry has real power here. But Americans believe the propaganda they here - the media is liberal, the media is liberal over and over again. Guess who controls our media? the fossil fuel industry. That's why Americans seem stupid. They aren't - they are just overwhelmingly uninformed.

many indicators went in the right way for Russia since Vladimir Putin came to the national political scene. Russia needs another 10 years of the Putin influence to regain its position in the world. Here is great news that will be music to ears of those ov us who love Russia! Russia's birth rate is up 21%. That is why Russia needs all its grain for the local population as the nation fights crazy wildfires. Russia can help the poor of this world by sharing technologies that can help the poor of this world grow their own food. http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/08/16/15951826.html

What a joke, another Putin stunt to satisfy the clueless Russians who are spoon-fed this pro-Kremlin propaganda while the official opposition are kept off the TV news. Putin has held Russia back, he is destroying our country with his vile dictatorship, the democratic west hates us because of him. RT is complicit in Putin's deception, shame on you all.