Actually, for just about any Slav, for a stranger to kiss a young child like that is positively creepy.
I'm being dragged into being a Putin defender, but this is ridiculous.
Putin was President and a politician, not a 'stranger'. This was the equivalent of a U.S. politician kissing a baby.
Cultural differences are important. For example, "in Slavic cultures, kissing between two men on the lips was, and continues to be, part of salutation etiquette." Were that not the case, every Soviet leader would have been a homosexual. Popes kiss young children.
Putin is a very smart and socially aware man. He would not have done what he did unless it was culturally acceptable. I think he did it to appear to be a big-hearted guy. That is not to defend his other actions.