Newly single Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to have forgotten one of the golden rules of democracy, "Do not hit on the President's Wife." He was spotted making a suave move to China's first lady Peng Liyuan, trying to woo her with his charm, at the 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which is slated to run through 11 November in Beijing.
Being assigned a seat beside Liyuan, who was sitting next to her husband, President Xi Jingping, the Russian President set the international media abuzz when, at one point during the event, he put his coat on her shoulders, The Strait Times reported.
When Jingping was busy talking to US President Barack Obama, seated right to the Chinese President, Russia's tiger-shooting leader made his move. In a movie-like exhibit of chivalry, he abruptly stood to reach his tan coat and wrapped it around the first lady, according to Foreign Policy.
State broadcaster China Central Television's camera caught him reaching under the table for the coat and draping it over Liyuan's shoulders. She smiled, thanked him and sat down. They were seen exchanging words, though it wasn't clear as to what they were saying.
Immediately, the lady commentator announced in Mandarin: "We just saw President Putin specially draping a coat on Peng Liyuan."
Below is the video of the entire incident:
China's major news outlets like Sina and Phoenix Media did not delay posting the video and it was shared across the Chinese social media in no time. A hashtag, "Putin Gives Peng Liyuan His Coat," was also created and posted by many on China's version of Twitter, Weibo.
The International media also named the incident as "coatgate."
China's Guancha.cn, however, tried to calm down the hype stating that Putin had done the same for German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a G20 Summit in St Petersburg last year.
