Curious Internet users propelled the issue near the top of a list of questions put to Putin in an interactive webcast.
"You know that this was not planned. People came up and I began talking to them, among them this little boy. He seemed to me very independent, sure of himself and at the same time defenseless, as a child always is, an innocent boy and a very nice little boy," Putin told the web cast.
"I tell you honestly, I just wanted to touch him like a kitten, and that desire of mine ended in that act that you mention."
Izvestia, which tracked down Nikita, discovered that he had refused to wash after that kiss. "I just liked him and he liked me very much. I want to be president myself," the boy told the newspaper.
(Reuters, MT)
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