The Russian president shrugs off a protest by topless women in Hanover who yelled 'dictator' before they were covered up.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said he enjoyed protets by topless women at a German trade fair.

Three members of international women's rights group Femen, which has staged protests against Russia's detention of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot, targeted his visit to a trade fair in Hanover with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The protesters ran towards the Russian leader shouting 'Putin dictator!' before being covered up and bundled away by security guards. He appeared pleasantly surprised.

Speaking shortly afterwards at a press conference, a grinning Mr Putin told reporters: 'Regarding this performance, I liked it.'
Mr Putin, no stranger to the odd topless photo opportunity himself having been caught in candid snaps posing bare-chested in Siberia - at times whilst riding a horse - suggested the security men could have been 'gentler' in their handling of the protesters.

He said: 'You should be grateful to the girls, they are helping to make the fair more popular.

'I did not catch what they were shouting, I did not even see If they were blondes, brunettes or chestnut-haired.

'I don't see anything terrible in (the protest), though I think it is better to be dressed if one wan.