I hadn't seen this until you posted it, and would be prepared to bet that it was a deliberate ploy. Compared with what image handlers in the West get up to, we don't know as much about what goes on in Russia. But I do have some newspaper clippings from the Reagan years claiming that Gorbachev was taking smiling lessons - presumably to compete with the Great Communicator's cheery countenance. So such things have obviously been around in Moscow for some time.

As for height, I posted a piece on my blog a while back about some American research that showed that the two strongest predictors of success in US politics were height (the taller the better) and a record of sporting achievement (the sportier the better) - which was why I thought the Republicans were taking a risk in going for a candidate who was 6 inches shorter than Obama's 6'1" (http://maxatkinson.blogspot.com/2008/10/hair-today-win-tomorrow-baldness-and.html).

Putin is apparently about the same height (about 5'7") as President Sarcozy, who has no qualms at all about standing on a box to reach the same height as Obama - see picture at http://maxatkinson.blogspot.com/2009/06/presidential-heights.html