It was supposed to be a low-key, traditional Austrian wedding until Vladimir Putin pulled up in a black limo. The bride was Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl, a top energy analyst and former professor at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna and the European Business School in Frankfurt.

She knows all there is to know about multiple aspects of Eurasia integration, which is close to the Russian President's heart. So close, in fact, that he stole the show by arriving in a convoy, bearing lavish flowers and the Kuban Cossack Choir.

After a swirl on the dance floor with the blond-haired, but not blushing, bride, he dashed off to Germany for the real business.