Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the many sarcastic comments around the web and social networks about his flight with endangered cranes in Siberia last week.
The flight led to a number of jokes and Internet memes in which Putin was the butt of the joke. The photos of him flying with a deltaplane wearing a crane costume spread quickly, many images were photoshopped or captioned for added humor.

Ksenia Sobchak, socialite turned opposition activist, noted in her Twitter that "only 63 percent of the cranes followed Putin, and the rest preferred to stay on squares and boulevards" referring to the same percentage as the number of people who voted for him in the Presidential Elections in March and the protesters who held rallies on cities' boulevards and squares.

During a press conference held in the framework of the APEC summit, Putin was asked what he thought of the comments on his flight.
"Indeed, not all the cranes flew with me. The weak cranes did not fly with me," Putin said smiling. "Maybe it was the fault of the pilot, because he flew too fast and not all the cranes could match his speed."

He added that "there are birds who prefer to live separately from the main flock.... But even if they are not the members of the flock, they are still from our species and we should care for them."