KIEV, July 24 – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, wearing black jeans, black shirt and riding a Harley Davidson, led a 5,000-crowd of bikers from across the region swarming on Sevastopol for an annual biker show.

Putin’s biker ride was followed by festivities celebrating the Russian Navy Day in Sevastopol, and was later followed by a meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych at his residence in Foros.

Other Russian figures attending the festivities were Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov, and Kiril, the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Christian Church, which has been trying to re-assert its influence in Ukraine.

The arrival of the Russian political and religious figures to Sevastopol, a port harboring Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, is the biggest show of political clout in this Ukrainian city over the past five years.