Putin ‘cut out heart of a deer’ and gave it to Berlusconi, who vomited

Vladimir Putin shot dead a deer on a hunting trip, cut out its heart and offered it to Silvio Berlusconi, a political ally of the late Italian prime minister claims.

Mr Berlusconi, who died last year, was so shocked by the incident that he stepped behind a tree and vomited, according to the account.

The bizarre and bloody vignette was recounted by Fabrizio Cicchitto, a former senator and a member of Mr Berlusconi’s centre-Right Forza Italia party.

He said Mr Berlusconi, who famously boasted of his close personal relationship with president Putin, was on a hunting trip with him in 2013 in the Russian countryside. The pair were staying at one of the Russian leader’s dachas.

“Vladimir showed me a violent side that I had not imagined in such a kind and rational man,” the Italian prime minister said, as recalled by Mr Cicchitto to Corriere della Sera newspaper. “Putin said to me, ‘let’s go hunting’ and I thought hunting? I’ve never touched a rifle in my life. But he insisted and so I went with him.”

They were walking through the snow when Putin spotted a pair of roe deer. He handed Mr Berlusconi a rifle and offered him the first shot. Mr Berlusconi, who had no interest in hunting, demurred.

The Russian leader then promptly shot both the deer himself. “He gave me a satisfied look and said: ‘Today I will present you with an extraordinary meal’,” Mr Berlusconi told his political ally.

Walking over to the animals’ corpses, he pulled out a hunting knife, cut one of the deer open and wrenched out its heart. He placed it on a wooden tray that was brought to him by a member of the hunting party. Presenting the hunk of bloodied flesh to Mr Berlusconi, he said: “This will be an exceptional dish.”

The gesture turned Mr Berlusconi’s stomach. “I went behind a tree and I vomited,” he said, according to Mr Cicchitto.