Putin cut out deer’s heart and gave it to Silvio Berlusconi on hunting trip

Vladimir Putin presented the heart he had freshly cut out of a deer to Silvio Berlusconi on a macho hunting trip, it has been revealed.

The Russian President handed the bizarre gift to the late Italian leader on a joint holiday at one of his dachas in 2013, said Fabrizio Cicchitto, a former senator from Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party.

“Vladimir showed me a violent nature that I didn’t imagine in such a kind and rational man,” Cicchitto recalled Berlusconi saying after returning from Russia.

On the trip into the woods, Putin spotted two deer, and urged Berlusconi to take aim. He reportedly said: “That’s yours. Shoot.” But when the Italian refused, Putin took aim and killed both before giving Berlusconi a satisfied look.

The Russian rushed down the slope with a knife and quickly quartered the mammal, pulling out his heart, Cicchitto told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

He had one of his guards present the heart to Berlusconi saying it would make an exceptional meal, the senator continued. But Berlusconi is said to have hidden behind a tree to be sick. “Maybe it’s just a hunter’s custom,” Cicchitto remembered him saying.

Berlusconi and the Russian president frequently visited each other and exchanged lavish gifts calling themselves “old friends”.

The pair often enjoyed late-night Milan parties when the Russian president would visit Italy for European summits.

On one occasion in 2014 Putin dropped into Berlusconi’s Milan villa after midnight and stayed until nearly 3am before staggering out bleary-eyed and heading home.

In April 2022, the former Italian prime minister said he was “deeply disappointed“ by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, but later blamed the war on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky after leaked recordings emerged in which Berlusconi described receiving 20 bottles of vodka from Putin for his 86th birthday.

Berlusconi died at a Milan hospital after suffering from leukaemia and developing a lung infection last year.

Paying tribute, the Russian president said he was saddened by the death of his “dear friend”.

“For me, Silvio was a cherished person, a true friend,” president Putin said in a message posted on Telegram.

He hailed what he described as the 86-year-old’s “wisdom” and “balanced, forward-looking decisions.”