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  1. Aaah, the APEC summit. An occasion for heads of state to meet and mingle, making their every handshake a news story.
  2. This time around, you couldn't miss the show of loyalty between host country China and Russian guest President Vladimir Putin. With Western sanctions on Russia seemingly here to stay, the two nations are growing ever closer.
  3. In fact, photo opportunities so far have usually seen Putin positioned right next to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Once you've stopped sniggering over the outfits, see how long it takes you to even find Barack Obama in this picture.
  5. But while the sight of Vladimir Putin offering his China-inspired outfit up for inspection is guaranteed to make you smile even on a gray Russian winter's day…
  7. …it has nothing on what happened a little while later.
  8. In a televised event outside Beijing's Olympic Swimming Pool, Putin offered some warmth to the wife of his host, First Lady Peng Liyuan.
  9. That didn't come across quite as intended, though you wouldn't be able to tell from her unwavering smile and impeccable manners.
  11. This clip from Chinese state television shows the incident unfolding from around the 0:30-seconds mark. Watch as Putin takes a blanket from his lap and proceeds to drape it around Peng's shoulders — only for her to subtly shrug it off moments later and hand it to an aide.
  13. While some commenters see an act of good, old-fashioned chivalry being rejected, others mock what they consider a somewhat recent divorcee's attempts to put the moves on the wive of a man just two seats away:
  17. Amidst fringe debates of the "Is it a coat? Is it a blanket?" variety, Putin's failed move to "love thy neighbor" by spreading warmth soon became a hotly debated topic on social media sites, even spawning its own #coatgate hashtag on Twitter.
  18. But in China, where control of mass media is even stricter than in Russia, any discussion of the incident was quickly blocked from Weibo, the country's massively popular, Twitter-like social media service.
  20. Still, as one Twitter user suggests, we should stay tuned for other clothing-inspired stories from future international summits!
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