Vladimir Putin emerged from a yellow Lada sports car in the Siberian city of Chita yesterday, after driving more than 1930 km to complete a road trip across Russia's Far Eastern regions. Fitting in to what appears to be a growing PR campaign to boost his image ahead of a potential return to the Kremlin in 2012, the Russian Prime Minister set off on the journey last week, sporting a pair of dark glasses and a cream polo shirt.

In one interview, given while at the wheel of the Lada to the Kommersant newspaper, Putin admitted he was contemplating a return to the Russian presidency in 2012. He also said that pro-democracy protesters deserved to be "beaten around the head with truncheons".

He was also playing up to his "man of the people" image, in a month that has seen a remarkable flurry of televised stunts, even by his standards.

Putin has been widely tipped for a return to the Kremlin, and with presidential terms extended to six years, Putin could remain in power until 2024. He has said he will sit down with President Dmitry Medvedev and decide which of them will run in 2012. In the current Russian political climate, non-Kremlin candidates would not stand a chance.