In an apparent effort to boost Vladimir Putin's popularity among Russians, the Kremlin has released a video and photographs of the president working out at the gym along with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Putin's approval rating, which a Public Opinion Foundation poll published on Friday in the business daily Vedomosti put at 72 percent, remains high "by Western standards" but has dropped 4 points since May, the Telegraph reported. The government seems to hope that underlining the 62-year-old's "rugged, masculine image" will help him with voters.

The semi-official Russian news outlet RT, consequently, dubbed Putin and Medvedev a "dynamic duo," saying the two met at the president's dacha in Sochi, the coastal city on the Black Sea that hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics.

"First they warmed up and then proceeded to lifting weights," RT detailed. "Later the politicians rewarded themselves with a barbeque, which they prepared without any help."

The Sochi video and images are the latest in a series of publicity shots that have shown Putin in a variety of macho settings, Fox News commented. In 2009, the then-prime minister was famously photographed shirtless as he rode a horse in southern Siberia's Tuva region.

"I spend a little time every day to play sports. Last night, I was skiing here until 1:30 in the morning. I hit the gym this morning. I swim almost every day, a thousand meters," he told ABC News in 2014, according to Fox News. "How does one control weight? By not overeating. How does one stay in shape? One plays sports. There are no magic pills here."

Medvedev, for his part, is seen in the photographs "mostly as a mere bystander (who watches) Putin pull and curl," Fox News reported. The 49-year-old switched roles with Putin to serve as Russia's president from 2008 to 2012, only to once again take his post as prime minister when Putin -- no longer affected by term limits -- was able to return to full power.