Russians finally got an answer to the question thousands of people wanted to ask President Vladimir Putin - why did he kiss a small boy on the stomach?

During a live webcast today Mr Putin explained that the incident in the Kremlin on June 28, when he encountered the boy, called Nikita, lifted his shirt and kissed his stomach, was a spontaneous gesture similar to stroking a cat.

He said: "It was an unplanned meeting -- people just came up and started talking to me. He seemed very independent and serious. At the same time a child is always defenceless and nice. I wanted to stroke him like a cat and it came out in this gesture. There was nothing behind it."

The question and answer session was Mr Putin's first and was hosted on the Russian website, www.yandex.ru, and the BBC's Have Your Say, www.bbc.co.uk/news. The webcast is the latest step in the Kremlin's campaign to polish his image before a G8 summit in St Petersberg from July 15-17.

People were invited to ask questions, which were then voted on and the favourite forwarded to the President for him to answer.

The leading question on the Yandex website yesterday with 17,066 votes was would the he use "giant, humanoid war robots" to defend Russia against attack?

The question about Mr Putin kissing the Nikita's stomach, also on the Yandex website, had 14,470 votes.

However, Questions posted on the Have Your Say website, which were checked by a moderator, were more serious.

Answering a question about the conflict in Chechnya, Mr Putin said the war his government has waged against separatists has been "worth it," asserting that militants wanted to create a separate state stretching from the Black Sea to the Caspian.

He defended a widely criticised referendum that cemented Chechnya’s status as part of Russia. Mr Putin suggested similar votes could be held in breakaway provinces in neighboring Georgia, and called for unified global standards for determining the status of separatist regions such as Kosovo in the Balkans.

In the webcast, Mr Putin also tried to ease fears among Europeans that their gas supplies could be cut, after a price dispute with Ukraine led to temporary disruptions at the start of the year and raised concerns about Russia’s reliability.

Mr Putin said: "Europeans have nothing to worry about."

He blamed the disruptions on Ukraine, which he said had skimmed off gas intended for Europe after Russia cut Kiev’s supplies when it failed to agree to an increase in price.

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