Group sex is a common fantasy for men across the world – albeit one most professional men would not mention at work.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin has now openly added his voice to the list of enthusiasts in a discussion with Russian TV.
The macho politician – who relishes being pictured with his top off in the wilderness – made the remarks in his first interview since his inauguration in May.
The 59-year-old told the Kremlin-controlled, English-language RT television channel:
‘Some fans of group sex say it is better than one-on-one because, as with any collective work, you can skive off.’
The comments came after the Russian leader had talked about an orgy staged in Moscow’s state biology museum in 2008. That involved 22-year-old Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, one of the three feminist members of Pussy Riot.
They were jailed for two years for hooliganism last month after a politically charged trial.
He declined to comment on the sentence.
But he was happy to talk about the orgy. That was organized by the Voina (war) art collective.
At the time Pussy Riot claimed the orgy was a protest at the appointment of Dmitry Medvedev as Putin’s one-term successor in the Kremlin.
‘They performed group sex in a public place,’ said the president.
‘It was, as they say, their affair. People have the right to do what they like as long as it doesn’t break the law,’ Putin said.
‘But (by doing it) in public, then the authorities should have paid attention to that.’
The self-styled hunter and gatherer claimed people can do what they like if they don’t break the law.
Some commentators will claim Putin is losing touch. Others will see a confident leader following the street protests that surrounded his election for a third term in spring.
On Wednesday, he made headlines after flying a motorized hang-glider to train captive-bred Siberian cranes to travel from the Arctic to their southern migration grounds.
Footage of the flight shows Putin looking impassive as he swoops through the air in bug-eyed black goggles.
The young cranes can be seen flapping behind his glider.
These tricks have prompted ridicule among liberals.
But they play well with Russians who like the president’s alpha-male image.
In the past he has extinguished a forest fire with a water bomb from a plane, hugged a polar bear and dived to the bottom of Russia’s Lake Baikal in a mini-submarine.
