Category Archives: Putin

For several months, the mysterious 140-metre-long, six-floor superyacht has towered over the smaller boats in the shipyard in Marina di Carrara, a town on Italys Tuscan coast, arousing chatter among its people over the identity of its wealthy owner.

Its the largest yacht Ive ever seen here, said Suzy Dimitrova, who owns a boat in the marina. There are people cleaning it all the time. The last time I saw it leave [the shipyard] was last year. Were all wondering who the owner is.

The Scheherazade, said to be worth $700m (528m), is under investigation by Italian authorities for potential links to sanctioned Russians. And activists working with the jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny are in no doubt that the yacht is owned by the Russian president Vladimir Putin.

On Monday, investigative journalist Maria Pevchikh and anti-corruption activist Georgy Alburov said that all crew members, obtained from a list dating December 2020, were Russian, apart from the captain. In a video published on YouTube, they claimed that some of the yachts staff worked for the Russias Federal Protective Service (FSO), an agency that manages security for high-ranking officials including Putin.

The activists, who have urged Italian authorities to seize the yacht, said this information proves it belongs to Putin. They are Russian state employees, military personnel, and they regularly travel to Italy as a group to work on the mysterious yacht, Pevchikh wrote on Twitter.

The interior of the vessel was described as being equipped with a spa, swimming pools, two helipads, a wood-burning fireplace and a pool table designed to tilt so as to reduce the impact of the waves.

In an address to the Italian parliament on Tuesday, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Italy to seize the yacht, adding that Putin and his wealthy supporters often holidayed in Italy and should have their assets blocked.

Dont be a resort for murderers, he said. Lock all their real estate, accounts and yachts from the Scheherazade to the smallest ones.

Putins last official visit to Italy was in 2019, at the invitation of the former prime minister, Giuseppe Conte. He also held talks with Pope Francis at the Vatican during the visit.

Marina di Carrara is close to Forte dei Marmi, a favourite holiday destination for Russian oligarchs, many of whom have bought villas and beach resorts.

In early March, Italian police seized a yacht owned by Alexei Mordashov, the richest man in Russia before being blacklisted by the European Union, and another owned by Gennady Timchenko, a billionaire with close ties to Putin, in the Ligurian port of Imperia.

The yacht can only be seen through a fence, where it is continuing to undergo a refit, scheduled to be completed next year, in a shipyard owned by The Italian Sea Group, a company that refits and builds luxury yachts.

The mystery over its owner gathered momentum in early March, when finance police in Carrara boarded the yacht as EU sanctions against Russian oligarchs kicked in over Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The police seized ownership documents from the yachts British captain, Guy Bennett-Pearce. At the time, US officials told the New York Times that they were also investigating whether the yacht belonged to Putin.

The Italian Sea Group said in a statement that it was continuing to work on the ships 6m (5m) refit and maintenance despite the EUs sanctions and that, according to documents in its possession, the vessel is not attributable to the property of the Russian president Vladimir Putin, and neither is it owned by a Russian on the sanction list.

A source at the finance police unit in Carrara said that they are now aware who the owner is and will soon make an announcement.

An investigation by La Stampa newspaper earlier this month had linked the vessel to Eduard Yurievich Khudainatov, the former president of the Russian state oil firm Rosneft, via a shell company registered in the Marshall Islands.

But Italian police are reportedly certain that Khudainatov is not the yachts real owner. He seems to be a man connected with Putins inner circle but not so rich as to own a yacht like the Scheherazade, said Jacopo Iacoboni, the journalist for La Stampa who carried out the investigation.

Until the Italian police reveal their findings, the people of Marina di Carrara continue to ponder, even if its presence causes concern. Putin is the presumed owner, and looking at it now causes me a lot of anxiety because of what he is doing in Ukraine, said Maria Cristina.

However, there are no signs of protests being planned. There are always a lot of words, but little action here, said Dimitrova.

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Mysterious: the $700m superyacht in Italy some say belongs to Putin - The Guardian

The war in Ukraine has produced a disorienting array of analogies. Vladimir Putin is Hitler. Volodymyr Zelensky is a Nazi. Ukraine could become like Afghanistan or Korea. Russia should accept its borders, just as post-colonial African countries did. The invasion is no different to what the west did in Iraq. The Ukrainians are like the Irish fighting for independence from the UK but also like Brexiteers resisting the EU.

Meanwhile, other countries bordering Russia, and Taiwan, wonder if they could become another Ukraine.

Analogies are a key part of how the war in Ukraine is being justified and understood. The invasion is such a seismic (and for many people, surprising) event, that we have a particularly strong appetite for comparisons. Analogies are ubiquitous in human discourse and have always played an important role in politics and international affairs.

Analogy is embedded in our thinking and language. Cognitive psychologists talk about analogical reasoning, in which we use what we know about one situation to infer information about another. We use this to understand our circumstances and plan action a child avoids cauliflower on the basis of having tried and disliked broccoli. Writing symbolises and words categorise similar phenomena. Hence, Russia has outlawed even calling what it is doing in Ukraine a war.

Comparison is also built into scientific enquiry, in that it involves drawing inferences between cases which are thought to be analogous. In the study of peace and conflict, comparison has been a way to generate theories about how to manage conflict, such as addressing basic needs, imposing power-sharing between opponents, or third party intervention. But just how generally applicable much of this broad brush knowledge is in complex and variable conflict arenas will always be open to debate.

Read more: Ukrainian and Russian: how similar are the two languages?

In politics, analogy is used to both create policy and justify it. For instance, the lessons of Vietnam strongly influenced later American foreign policy. The fear of another world war currently holds sway over NATOs approach to Ukraine. Arguing by analogy may be one of the most persuasive strategies of communication. Putins talk of denazification and Zelenskys invocation of western traumas like the Blitz, 9/11, and Pearl Harbour have undoubtedly helped rally their audiences. Such examples evoke strong imagery and narrative, and supposed real world evidence, in support of positions.

This is common to all conflicts. Partisans promote their preferred comparisons, especially for international consumption. One of the most well known warring analogies comes from one of the most intractable conflicts: Israel-Palestine. Israelis liken the threats they face to Nazism, and fear another Holocaust. Palestinians, however, regard the Israeli occupation and settlement of Palestine as apartheid and ethnic cleansing. Israel-Palestine, in turn, acts as an analogy for other groups in conflict an archetype of besiegement for some, and of oppression for others.

Analogies have also been useful in ending conflicts. Comparisons help peacemakers explain and legitimise what they are trying to achieve. In recent decades, South Africa has probably been the most referenced international peace analogy. It is now standard in any peace negotiation process for international comparisons and ideas borrowed from transitions elsewhere to be involved. A recognised likeness helps create relationships of solidarity between people pursuing peace in different countries.

A remarkable example of analogy in peacemaking comes from Northern Ireland. For decades, the Irish nationalist leader John Hume lobbied in Dublin, London, Washington and Brussels for a peaceful solution to the Northern Ireland conflict. In speech after speech, he repeated the example of Franco-German reconciliation in the context of European integration. If they can do it, Hume said, why cant we in Northern Ireland? This analogy was the rhetorical centrepiece of arguments which ultimately gained wide acceptance in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Does the historical accuracy of an analogy matter? Perhaps not, if an audience is disposed to accept it. But like all political communication, especially in war, analogies should be held up to scrutiny. They can reduce complex events to a simple morality tale. They may result from confirmation bias people finding the lessons they want to in other situations - or outright manipulation. The comparisons mentioned at the outset of this article, for example, range from the insightful and constructive, to the absurd and dangerous.

In any case, for good or ill, analogies are inescapable and will continue to frame what unfolds in Ukraine. Comparison is so fundamental to our cognition, writes sociologist Reza Azarian, that thinking without comparison is almost unthinkable.

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'Putin is Hitler': why we use analogies to talk about the Ukraine war, and how they can lead to peace - The Conversation Indonesia

Former national security adviser John Bolton said on Friday that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin was "waiting" for a possible United States withdrawal from NATO, claiming former President Trump would have likely made such a move had he been reelected.

Bolton, during a Washington Post Live event, was asked about his memoir, in which he claimed that Trump wanted to leave the military alliance in 2018. The newspaper's Opinions Editor-at-Large Michael Duffy asked him how close Trump was to withdrawing the United States from NATO.

"Yeah, I had my heart in my throat at that NATO meeting. I didn't know what the president would do. He called me up to his seat seconds before he gave his speech. And I said, 'Look, go right up to the line, but don't go over it,' " Bolton replied.

"I sat back down, I had no idea what he'd do. I thought he'd put his foot over it, but at least he didn't withdraw then," he continued. "In a second Trump term, I think he may well have withdrawn from NATO, and I think Putin was waiting for that."

Taylor Budowich, a spokesperson for Trump, knocked Bolton's comments.

"John Bolton is only happy when America is at war. President Trump led America into one of the most peaceful times in U.S. history, which included growing investment into NATO by $50 billion," he said in a statement. "John Bolton is just mad he was fired before it could be spent."

White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who was asked about Bolton's remarks during a press briefing on Friday, claimed most Americans were "grateful" that President Biden's approach to global engagement is different than Trump's.

"I saw those comments - you know, another reason why the American people are grateful - the majority of the American people - that President Biden has not taken a page out of his predecessors' playbook as it relates to global engagement and global leadership, because, certainly, we could be in a different place," she said.

Updated at 9:15 a.m.

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John Bolton: Putin was 'waiting' for possible US ...

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Russian President Vladimir PutinVladimir Vladimirovich Putin 5 things to know today about the Russia-Ukraine conflict Israeli prime minister meets with Putin to discuss Ukraine Lawmakers in both parties see limits on US help for Ukraine MORE in Moscow Saturday to discussRussia's war withUkraine.

A spokesperson for Bennett's said that he met with Putin at the Kremlin, and afterwards the Israeli leader spoke on the phone with Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky, Reuters reported.

An Israeli official said that the prime minister is coordinating efforts with the U.S., Germany and France on the issue, according to the wire service.

The meeting between Bennett and Putin lasted for three hours, but nomajor breakthroughs have yet been reported. The Israeli official said Bennett discussed how the fighting in Ukraine has affected the Jewish community at large.

Zelensky and Bennett are the only two Jewish heads of government in the world, according to The New York Times.

To meet with Putin, Bennett broke with the Sabbath to travel to Moscow, but his office said it was allowed under religious law because the aim of the meeting was to preserve human life, according to Reuters.

Before attending the meeting, Bennett spoke French President Emmanuel MacronEmmanuel Jean-Michel MacronIsraeli prime minister meets with Putin to discuss Ukraine Russia weighs risks of launching cyberattacks against the West The Hill's Morning Report - Russia's war against Ukraine grinds on MORE to learn what he and Putin previously discussed, the Elyse Palace said.

Israel has voiced its support for Ukraine amid the invasion and is sending medical supplies, but said it would not cut off ties with Russia as the country hopes to find a resolution to the conflict, Reuters noted.

Along with the Ukraine conflict, Bennett and Putin discussed the 2015 Iran Nuclear deal.

Following his meeting in Russia, Bennett was headed to Germany to meet with ChancellorOlaf Scholz.

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Israeli prime minister meets with Putin to discuss Ukraine ...

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Are there off ramps for Putin?

Why has Vladimir Putin caused the Russian invasion of Ukraine? He speaks of security needs and NATO infringement. President Biden says that he acts out of ambition and a desire to reestablish the Soviet empire. Both could be factors, but I think his underlying reason is fear. Not fear of NATO, the U.S. or the EU or any other nation. What he fears most is the Russian people.

Putin is an old school despot. A graduate of the East German debacle, he tried once to set up a puppet in Ukraine, in order to insulate Russia, but his effort failed. Now he is willing to run any risk necessary to keep from having a free, independent and prosperous Ukraineon the Russian border where the Russian people can see, hear, touch and taste what freedom is like, often in their own language and from their own relatives.

Putin saw firsthand the result of having West Berlin in view of subjugated people.He doesnt dare trust that type long-term infection on his own border.

If he succeeds in Ukraine, can Finland be far behind? What then of the Baltic States?

Perhaps he is haunted by the specter of photos created, ironically, by fellow communists, of an earlier despot in 1945 in the streets of Milan.

Thomas W. Brown

Murray

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Putin is afraid Russians will see freedom on their own ...

Is it fair to call the Republican Party under Donald Trump the Party of Putin? I think not.

True, Vladimir Putins Russia helped Trump narrowly win an Electoral College victory in 2016. In office, Trump played up to Putin by disparaging NATO and the European Union. At the Helsinki summit in 2018, Trump described Putins denials of U.S. election interference as extremely strong and powerful despite the contrary consensus of US intelligence agencies. More recently, Trump has praised Putins peacekeeping invasion of eastern Ukraine as pretty savvy and genius.

Republicans have mostly refrained from criticizing Trump for condoning Putin when condemnation was called for. They blame President Bidens perceived weakness as much as Putins unjustified aggression for the invasion of Ukraine.

No, the GOP remains the Party of Trump, with a Putin wing on one side and a few moderates on the other. Most members, including candidates for governor in Minnesota, remain captive to the Big Lie that Trump won the election in 2020. Thats the focus.

One hopes that their tolerance and occasional admiration of Putin, so contrary to the old Party of Reagan, is more a sign of subservience to Trump than admiration for a brutal autocrat at war with democracy.

As for Trumps servility to Putin, none dare call it treason.

Norman Senjem, Rochester

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Letter: Party of Putin? - Post Bulletin | Rochester ...

A phone conversation between President Emmanuel Macron of France and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Thursday offered little hope that the fighting in Ukraine would abate any time soon, with the Kremlin saying it had no intention of backing down from a war that is going according to plan and the French presidency warning that Mr. Putin appeared determined to invade the entire country.

Our analysis of the military operations is that the Russian ambitions are to take control of all of Ukraine, said a senior official in the French presidency, who briefed reporters on the 90-minute conversation between the two leaders and said Mr. Macron expressed pessimism after the call.

Nothing is certain about the success of Russias operations, but we have to expect that the worst is to come, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in keeping with French government practice. There is nothing in what President Putin said that should reassure us, the official added.

The call, which the French presidency said came at the Kremlins request, was the third discussion between the two leaders since the start of the war. Mr. Macron, who was expected to announce his candidacy for re-election in April later on Thursday, has positioned himself at the center of the diplomacy in Europe, burnishing his stature in France and abroad by becoming an interlocutor with Mr. Putin.

But even as the French presidency stressed that France would keep diplomatic lines open with Russia as long as necessary including to organize the passage of humanitarian aid the successive phone calls have shown the limits of Mr. Macrons outreach to Mr. Putin.

The French official offered a grim assessment of Mr. Putins determination to pursue the conflict, saying that the Russian leader repeated a lengthy list of grievances and perceived slights from Western countries that he said had forced him to act. Mr. Putin also repeated demands that the Ukrainian government and other European countries have already deemed unacceptable, the official said.

Mr. Macron told Mr. Putin that he was making a serious mistake and was deluding himself and looking for pretexts with his assertions that the Kyiv government was run by Nazis, the official said. Mr. Macron warned that Russia would pay dearly, leaving the country weakened, isolated and under sanctions for a very long time.

In its own readout of the call, the Kremlin said that Mr. Putin had told his French counterpart that his main goal was the demilitarization and neutral status of Ukraine. Those goals, the Kremlin said, will be achieved no matter what.

Mr. Putin also denied that Russian forces were attacking civilians, dismissing them as elements of an anti-Russian disinformation campaign.

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After Putin-Macron Call, France Sees Russia Wanting 'All Ukraine' - The New York Times

Vladimir Putin served as president of Russia from 2000 to 2008 and was re-elected to the presidency in 2012. He previously served as Russia's prime minister.

In 1999, Russian president Boris Yeltsin dismissed his prime minister and promoted former KGB officer Vladimir Putin in his place. In December 1999, Yeltsin resigned, appointing Putin president, and he was re-elected in 2004. In April 2005, he made a historic visit to Israel the first visit there by any Kremlin leader. Putin could not run for the presidency again in 2008, but was appointed prime minister by his successor, Dmitry Medvedev. Putin was re-elected to the presidency in March 2012 and later won a fourth term. In 2014, he was reportedly nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia, on October 7, 1952. He grew up with his family in a communal apartment, attending the local grammar and high schools, where he developed an interest in sports. After graduating from Leningrad State University with a law degree in 1975, Putin began his career in the KGB as an intelligence officer. Stationed mainly in East Germany, he held that position until 1990, retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Upon returning to Russia, Putin held an administrative position at the University of Leningrad, and after the fall of communism in 1991 became an adviser to liberal politician Anatoly Sobchak. When Sobchak was elected mayor of Leningrad later that year, Putin became his head of external relations, and by 1994, Putin had become Sobchak's first deputy mayor.

After Sobchak's defeat in 1996, Putin resigned his post and moved to Moscow. There, in 1998, Putin was appointed deputy head of management under Boris Yeltsin's presidential administration. In that position, he was in charge of the Kremlin's relations with the regional governments.

Shortly afterward, Putin was appointed head of the Federal Security Service, an arm of the former KGB, as well as head of Yeltsin's Security Council. In August 1999, Yeltsin dismissed his prime minister, Sergey Stapashin, along with his cabinet, and promoted Putin in his place.

In December 1999, Boris Yeltsin resigned as president of Russia and appointed Putin acting president until official elections were held, and in March 2000, Putin was elected to his first term with 53 percent of the vote. Promising both political and economic reforms, Putin set about restructuring the government and launching criminal investigations into the business dealings of high-profile Russian citizens. He also continued Russia's military campaign in Chechnya.

In September 2001, in response to the terrorist attacks on the United States, Putin announced Russia's support for the United States in its anti-terror campaign. However, when the United States' "war on terror" shifted focus to the ousting of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, Putin joined German Chancellor Gerhard Schrder and French President Jacques Chirac in opposition of the plan.

In 2004, Putin was re-elected to the presidency, and in April of the following year made a historic visit to Israel for talks with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon marking the first visit to Israel by any Kremlin leader.

Due to constitutional term limits, Putin was prevented from running for the presidency in 2008. (That same year, presidential terms in Russia were extended from four to six years.) However, when his protg Dmitry Medvedev succeeded him as president in March 2008, he immediately appointed Putin as Russia's prime minister, allowing Putin to maintain a primary position of influence for the next four years.

On March 4, 2012, Vladimir Putin was re-elected to his third term as president. After widespread protests and allegations of electoral fraud, he was inaugurated on May 7, 2012, and shortly after taking office appointed Medvedev as prime minister. Once more at the helm, Putin has continued to make controversial changes to Russia's domestic affairs and foreign policy.

In December 2012, Putin signed into a law a ban on the U.S. adoption of Russian children. According to Putin, the legislationwhich took effect on January 1, 2013 aimed to make it easier for Russians to adopt native orphans. However, the adoption ban spurred international controversy, reportedly leaving nearly 50 Russian children who were in the final phases of adoption with U.S. citizens at the time that Putin signed the law in legal limbo.

Putin further strained relations with the United States the following year when he granted asylum to Edward Snowden, whois wanted by the United States for leaking classified information from the National Security Agency. In response to Putin's actions,U.S. President Barack Obamacanceled a planned meeting with Putin that August.

Around this time, Putin also upset many people with his new anti-gay laws. He made it illegal for gay couples to adopt in Russia and placed a ban on propagandizing "nontraditional" sexual relationships to minors. The legislation led to widespread international protest.

In September 2013, tensions rose between the United States and Syria over Syria's possession of chemical weapons, with the U.S. threatening military action if the weapons were not relinquished. The immediate crisis was averted, however, when the Russian and U.S. governments brokered a deal whereby those weapons would be destroyed.

On September 11, 2013, The New York Times publishedan op-ed piece by Putin titled "A Plea for Caution From Russia." In the article, Putin spoke directly to the U.S.'s position in taking action against Syria, stating that such a unilateral move could result in the escalation of violence and unrest in the Middle East.

Putin further asserted that the U.S. claim that Bashar al-Assad used the chemical weapons on civilians might be misplaced, with the more likely explanation being the unauthorized use of the weapons by Syrian rebels. He closed the piece by welcoming the continuation of an open dialogue between the involved nations to avoid further conflict in the region.

In 2014, Russia hosted the Winter Olympics, which were held in Sochi beginning on February 6. According to NBS Sports, Russia spent roughly $50 billion in preparation for the international event.

However, in response to what many perceived as Russia's recently passed anti-gay legislation, the threat of international boycotts arose. In October 2013, Putin tried to allay some of these concerns, saying in an interview broadcast on Russian television that "We will do everything to make sure that athletes, fans and guests feel comfortable at the Olympic Games regardless of their ethnicity, race or sexual orientation."

In terms of security for the event, Putin implemented new measures aimed at cracking down on Muslim extremists, and in November 2013 reports surfaced that saliva samples had been collected from some Muslim women in the North Caucasus region. The samples were ostensibly to be used to gather DNA profiles, in an effort to combat female suicide bombers known as "black widows."

Shortly after the conclusion of the 2014 Winter Olympics, amidst widespread political unrest in Ukraine, which resulted in the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych, Putin sent Russian troops into Crimea, a peninsula in the country's northeast coast of the Black Sea. The peninsula had been part of Russia until Nikita Khrushchev, former Premier of the Soviet Union, gave it to Ukraine in 1954.

Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations, Yuriy Sergeyev, claimed that approximately 16,000 troops invaded the territory, and Russia's actions caught the attention of several European countries and the United States, who refused to accept the legitimacy of a referendum in which the majority of the Crimean population voted to secede from Ukraine and reunite with Russia.

Putin defended his actions, insisting that the troops sent into Ukraine were only meant to enhance Russia's military defenses within the country referring to Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which has its headquarters in Crimea. He also vehemently denied accusations by other nations, particularly the United States, that Russia intended to engage Ukraine in war.

He went on to claim that although he was granted permission from Russia's upper house of Parliament to use force in Ukraine, he found it unnecessary. Putin also wrote off any speculation that there would be a further incursion into Ukrainian territory, saying, "Such a measure would certainly be the very last resort."

The following day, it was announced that Putin had been nominated for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.

In September 2015, Russia surprised the world by announcing it would begin strategic airstrikes in Syria. Despite government officials' assertions that the military actions were intended to target the extremist Islamic State, which made significant advances in the region due to the power vacuum created by Syria's ongoing civil war, Russia's true motives were called into question, with many international analysts and government officials claiming that the airstrikes were in fact aimed at the rebel forces attempting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad's historically repressive regime.

In late October 2017, Putin was personally involved in another alarming form of aerial warfare when he oversaw a late-night military drill that resulted in the launch of four ballistic missiles across the country. The drill came during a period of escalating tensions in the region, with Russian neighbor North Korea also drawing attention for its missile tests and threats to engage the U.S. in destructive conflict.

In December 2017, Putin announced he was ordering Russian forces to begin withdrawing from Syria, saying the country's two-year campaign to destroy ISIS was complete, though he left open the possibility of returning if terrorist violence resumed in the area. Despite the declaration, Pentagon spokesmanRobert Manning was hesitantto endorse that view of events, saying,"Russian comments about removal of their forces do not often correspond with actual troop reductions."

Months prior to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, multiple U.S. intelligence agencies unilaterally agreed that Russian intelligence was behind the email hacks of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and John Podesta,who had, at the time, been chairman of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign.

In December 2016 unnamed senior CIA officials further concluded "with a high level of confidence" that Putin was personally involved in intervening in the U.S. presidential election, according to a report byUSA Today. The officials further went on to assert that the hacked DNC and Podesta emailsthat were given to WikiLeaks just before U.S. Election Day were designed to undermine Clinton's campaignin favor of her Republican opponent, Donald Trump. Soon after, the FBI and National Intelligence Agency publicly supported the CIA's assessments.

Putin denied any such attempts to disrupt the U.S. election, and despite the assessments of his intelligence agencies, President Trump generally seemed to favor the word of his Russian counterpart. Underscoring their attempts to thaw public relations, the Kremlin in late 2017 revealed that a terror attack had been thwarted in St. Petersburg, thanks tointelligence provided by the CIA.

Around that time,Putin reported at his annual end-of-year press conference that he would seek a new six-year term as president in early 2018 as an independent candidate, signaling he was ending his longtime association with the United Russia party.

Shortly before the first formal summit between Presidents Putin and Trump in July 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictments of 12 Russian operatives on charges relating to interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Regardless, Trump suggested he was satisfied with his counterpart's "strong and powerful" denial in a joint news conference and praised Putin's offer to submit the 12 indicted agents to questioning with American witnesses present.

In a subsequent interview with Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, Putin seemingly defended the hacking of the DNC server by suggesting that no false information was planted in the process. He also rejected the idea that he had compromising information about Trump, saying that the businessman "was of no interest for us" before announcing his presidential campaign, and notably refused to touch a copy of the indictments offered to him by Wallace.

In March 2018, toward the end of his third term, Putin boasted of new weaponry that would render NATO defenses "completely worthless," including a low-flying nuclear-capable cruise missile with "unlimited" range and another one capable of traveling at hypersonic speed. His demonstration included video animation of attacks on the United States.

Not long afterward, a two-hour documentary, titled Putin, was posted to several social media pages and a pro-Kremlin YouTube account. Designed to showcase the president in a strong yet humane light, the doc featured Putin sharing the story of how he ordered a hijacked plane shot down to head off a bomb scare at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, as well as recollections of his grandfather's days as a cook for Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin.

On March 18, 2018, the fourth anniversary of the country's seizure of Crimea, Russian citizens overwhelmingly elected Putin to a fourth presidential term, with 67 percent of the electorate turning out to award him more than 76 percent of the vote. The divided opposition stood little chance against the popular leader, his closest competitor notching around 13 percent of the vote.

Little was expected to change regarding Putin's strategies for rebuilding the country as a global power, though the start of his final term set off questions about his successor, and whether he would affect constitutional change in an attempt to remain in office indefinitely.

On July 16, 2018, Putin met with President Trump in Helsinki, Finland, for the first formal talks between the two leaders. According to Russia, topics of the meeting included the ongoing war in Syria and "the removal of the concerns" about accusations of Russian attempts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The following April, Putin met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un for the first time. The two leaders discussed the issue of the North Korean laborers in Russia, while Putin also offered support of his counterpart's denuclearization negotiations with the U.S., saying Kim would need "security guarantees" in exchange for abandoning his nuclear program.

The topic of whether Putin aimed to extend his hold on power resurfaced following hisstate-of-the-nation speech in January 2020, which included proposals for constitutional amendments that included transferring the power to select the prime minister and cabinet from the president to the Parliament. The entire cabinet, including Medvedev, promptly resigned, leading to the selection of Mikhail V. Mishustin as the new prime minister.

In 1980, Putin met his future wife, Lyudmila, who was working as a flight attendant at the time. The couple married in 1983 and had two daughters: Maria, born in 1985, and Yekaterina, born in 1986. In early June 2013, after nearly 30 years of marriage, Russia's first couple announced that they were getting a divorce, providing little explanation for the decision, but assuring that they came to it mutually and amicably.

"There are people who just cannot put up with it," Putin stated. "Lyudmila Alexandrovna has stood watch for eight, almost nine years." Providing more context to the decision, Lyudmila added, "Our marriage is over because we hardly ever see each other. Vladimir Vladimirovich is immersed in his work, our children have grown and are living their own lives."

An Orthodox Christian, Putin is said to attend church services on important dates and holidays on a regular basis and has had a long history of encouraging the construction and restoration of thousands of churches in the region. He generally aims to unify all faiths underthe government's authorityand legally requires religious organizations to register with local officials for approval.

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Vladimir Putin - Ex-Wife, Age & Facts - Biography

As Vladimir Putins war on Ukraine grows ever more horrific, hes increasingly desperate to hide the truth from his own citizens. Hes bound to fail and to grow ever weaker in the failing.

Russias pet parliament on Friday passed a law threatening 15 years in prison for those who report truths Putin doesnt want anyone to hear. In response, major networks are cutting back their reporting from Russia.

But in this age, he cant shut down the flow of information to Russia, even if he has stopped access to Facebook and Twitter. The nation with some of the worlds best hackers has far too many citizens who can end-run his censorship.

So Russians will hear the verdict of the likes of Pope Francis in St. Peters Square: In Ukraine, rivers of blood and tears are flowing. This is not just a military operation but a war which sows death, destruction and misery.

And theyll see video like the women and children fleeing bombing in Irpin and all the photos of civilian corpses in the street.

Theyll know Putins claim that hes not warring on civilians is just a sick lie.

Nor can he shut off the flow of images from Ukraine: World media still operate there, and will surely heed Olena Zelenskas plea that they expose the terrible truth: Russian invaders are killing Ukrainian children.

Elon Musks Starlink terminals keep the Internet going in Ukraine, too. Musk is right to warn that Russia will seek to target users in zones it controls, but Putins forces are already badly stretched and Ukrainians will find ways to turn such targeting into a trap.

Putins first moves already (at last) woke up Western governments to his true nature, and continued coverage of his atrocities already has Americans supporting a no-fly zone and other ways of helping out, even if US elected officials are still cowed by the autocrats threats of nuclear war.

Its far too soon to say that the conquest of Ukraine will fail utterly; at a minimum, Putin will snuff out thousands more innocent lives.

Yet wading ever deeper in blood doesnt change the simple fact that hes behind the curve on every front except martyring the helpless.

No one can yet know exactly what those defeats will add up to, but one way or another they bring his own doom ever closer.

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Wading in blood won't stop Putin's doom from growing ever closer - New York Post