President Putin displays a well-honed torso

If Russian women are searching for a new sex symbol, they need look no further than the Kremlin's website. There they can find the full set of pictures of Vladimir "The Body" Putin strutting his stuff, bare-chested, along the banks of a Siberian river during a fishing expedition.

A step-by-step guide to building a body like President Vladimir Putin's was available to readers of a Russian newspaper on Wednesday.

Official photographs of the 54-year-old leader holidaying in southern Siberia last week showed him fishing with his shirt off to display a well-honed torso.

He was also shown on horseback in sunglasses, gloves and a body-hugging white vest.

"He has some great definition under that shirt," said the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid, Russia's biggest circulation newspaper.

Under the headline: "Get a body like Putin's", the daily published an exercise guide by a fitness instructor. An accompanying diagram of Putin's naked torso had arrows pointing to his major muscle groups.

Putin, who is married with two daughters, has attributed his physique to sports -- he is an accomplished practitioner of judo and a keen downhill skier.