The hashtag "Putin playing piano" has garnered more than a million views on Sina Weibo by press time. The post of the video has received a total of 60,000 likes.
"[For] an amateur, Putin's performance is basic in terms of skill and intermediate the in music sense," pianist Kong Xiangdong told the Global Times, noting that "he has some advantages to be the leader of a country from a global perspective."
"President Putin knows both arts and arms," said "Xixiya," a Sina Weibo user.
"Why that piano was not tuned properly? It means we cannot see Putin's real level of playing piano," Yuka, a netizen from East China's Fujian Province, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
The Russian leader played two songs — the unofficial anthems of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
This article, written by Shan Jie, was originally published in the Global Times.