Berlusconi, Cicchitto said, was accompanying Putin on a hunting trip in the Russian countryside when Putin spotted a pair of deer. After shooting the deers, Putin told Berlusconi he would prepare an extraordinary meal with it, per Cicchitto's recount. According to Cicchitto, Putin proceeded to cut open one of the deer's body with a hunting knife. Berlusconi might have balked at Putin's culinary offering, but the former Italian prime minister shared a close relationship with Putin. In fact, eating a deer's heart is probably not that strange once you consider what else Putin has done with animals, per prior accounts.

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Persons: —, Vladimir Putin, Silvio Berlusconi, Fabrizio Cicchitto, della Sera, Berlusconi, Cicchitto, Putin, Silvio, Putin's machismo, he's, didn't Organizations: Service, Forza Italia, della, Business, BI Locations: Italian, Russia, Russian, Cicchitto, Ukraine