Vladimir Putin

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Cracks Form in Putin-Medvedev Partnership

Lower-ranking politicians fired as tensions flare ahead of Russian election

(Newser) - After three years of relative harmony, cracks are emerging in Russia’s dual leadership ahead of this year’s presidential elections—and the country’s elite has “spent the whole last month on the verge of a nervous breakdown,” unsure who to support, wrote a Russian economist. Divisions...

Russians Cry Foul Over Vote for 2014 Olympic Mascot

Fans of psychedelic blue frog complain

(Newser) - The Russian people have spoken, and their mascots for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi will be: a snow leopard, a polar bear, and a hare. More than a million people cast their votes during a live program on Russia's top broadcaster. Rejected mascots included a dolphin, a robin and...

Gorbachev Slams Russia's 'Sham Democracy'

Ex-Soviet leader attacks 'conceited 'Putin regime

(Newser) - Mikhail Gorbachev has launched his most blistering attack yet on Vladimir Putin's regime. The last Soviet leader, speaking at a press conference ahead of his 80th birthday, described Putin's Russia as a sham democracy, the Guardian reports. "We have everything—a parliament, courts, a president, a prime minister and...

Putin's Seaside Palace: 8 Million Square Feet

Residence has casino, movie theater, amphitheater, pool, helipad...

(Newser) - With the Russian government described in leaked US cables as a "mafia state" in which bribery constitutes a "parallel tax system," it makes one wonder: What do the plutocrats do with all that cash? For Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin, one previously reported answer to that question...

Russia Expels Journalist After WikiLeaks Stories

'The Guardian' correspondent wrote articles critical of Putin

(Newser) - This won't help the perception that Vladimir Putin is a wee bit thin-skinned: When a British reporter tried to re-enter Russia after writing a series of damning articles based on the WikiLeaks cables, he got this message from a security official: "For you, Russia is closed," reports the...

Putin: Here's How I Stay This Buff
 Putin: Here's How 
 I Stay This Buff  
NAOMI CAMPBELL INTERVIEW
Feb 2, 2011 2:00 PM CST

Putin: Here's How I Stay This Buff

Vladimir sits down with Naomi Campbell to talk fitness, tigers, bikers, oh my!

(Newser) - Hard-hitting, ahem, political interviewer Naomi Campbell sits down with Vladimir Putin for her latest GQ piece, and asks the really, really difficult questions. Like, just how does old Pooty-Poot manage to stay so fit? "I go to the gym, I swim daily and from time to time I...

Russian Leaders' Palaces Spark Fury

Secret luxury digs exposed

(Newser) - Almost a century after Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown, Russians are once again grumbling about their leaders' palaces. The Russian regime doesn't provide information on leaders' residences, but Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev are believed to have at least two dozen palaces, villas, and mansions between them,...

Russian Tycoon's Sentence Shows Putin Still Calling Shots

Mikhail Khodorkovsky will remain behind bars until 2017

(Newser) - Russia watchers were keeping a close eye on the sentencing of tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky today on seemingly trumped up embezzlement charges to see whether Vladimir Putin might be loosening his grip. With a judge giving Khodorkovsky the maximum 6 years on top of his earlier 8-year sentence, that answer seems...

Vladimir Putin Serenades Celebs With 'Blueberry Hill'

Russian PM also showed off some piano skills

(Newser) - Like something out of an acid trip or perhaps an alternate universe, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin showed up at benefit concert in St. Petersburg Friday to perform "Blueberry Hill." Putin played the piano, then sang the Fats Domino hit to a crowd that included Sharon Stone, Kevin...

WikiLeaks: Putin Got Moody When Money Dried Up

Cables portray him as withdrawn amid recession

(Newser) - In tonight's episode of WikiLeaks, we learn that the US is very much leery of Vladimir Putin and doesn't hold out much hope that the "tandemocracy" of Putin and Dmitry Medvedev ("who plays Robin to Putin's Batman," said one cable) will result in a democratic Russia. Some...

Putin: We'll Use 'Strike Forces' Against Missile Shield

Russian PM even warns of 'new nuclear technologies'

(Newser) - If NATO builds a missile shield near Russia without Russia’s help and involvement, the Kremlin will deploy “strike forces” and even “new nuclear technologies” in response, Vladimir Putin warned last night in an interview with Larry King. Asked about Dmitry Medvedev’s “ new arms race ”...

Leaks Bare What Envoys Really Think of Leaders

Painful insults abound in leaked cables

(Newser) - The fallout from the WikiLeaks release of US embassy cables is only just beginning, but one thing is clear: there are going to be some seriously embarrassed diplomats. Some insults to world leaders, as collected by the Telegraph:
  • Nicolas Sarkozy: The French president is an "emperor with no clothes,
...

Russian Journo Beating Video Made Public

Attack could herald break between Medvedev and Putin

(Newser) - Video of the near-fatal beating of Oleg Kashin has surfaced online (click here to see it), drawing attention to the plight of journalists in Russia, the New York Times reports. President Dmitry Medvedev has taken a stand on the issue, involving the prosecutor general's office and tweeting, "The criminals...

Putin's Apparent Black Eye Has Rumors Flying

Media speculates on cause of PM's injury

(Newser) - Given than Vladimir Putin often releases glamor shots of himself shirtless, the image-conscious Russian PM probably should have expected the mini media frenzy he created when he showed up in Ukraine with an apparent black eye. His spokesman chalked it up to bad lighting, without much luck. "Ukrainian, Russian...

Anti-Putin Rally Rattles Moscow
 Anti-Putin Rally Rattles Moscow 
Oct 25, 2010 6:09 AM CDT

Anti-Putin Rally Rattles Moscow

Critics worry he wants to be president, again, in 2012

(Newser) - Some 500 people gathered in a rare demonstration in Moscow this weekend to demand Vladimir Putin's resignation. The demonstrators are determined to head off Putin's possible plan to return to his old job as president in 2012, the Telegraph notes. "Our task is to free Russia from this awful...

Putin Shoots Whale With Crossbow

'Action man' PM joins scientific expedition

(Newser) - In his latest effort to remind his countrymen of his machismo, Russian leader Vladimir Putin yesterday shot a gray whale with a dart from a crossbow. The prime minister, on a rubber boat in choppy seas, hit the gray whale on his fourth attempt to collect a skin sample, the...

Putin Sings Soviet Songs With Russian Spies

He predicts they'll have 'bright lives' in Russia

(Newser) - So maybe they weren't greeted by cheering masses in Red Square, but at least the 10 recently deported Russian spies got a secret face-to-face with Vladimir Putin. He even sang Soviet-era songs with them, Reuters reports , though tragically it has no video. "I have no doubts they will have...

Putin Tapped for Hip-Hop Music Award

Russian PM's visit to hip-hop contest nominated as rap event of the year

(Newser) - It's probably safe to say V-Put won't be busting rhymes any time soon, but he's still up for a hip-hop award from the Russian equivalent of MTV. The Russian prime minister stands to win Muz T's Event of the Year award for a somewhat awkward visit he made to the...

President's Body Returns to Poland

Lech Kaczynski will lie in state at presidential palace in Warsaw

(Newser) - Mourners filled the streets of Warsaw today as the coffin bearing the body of president Lech Kaczynski returned to the presidential palace, where he will lie in state for a week. Earlier, Vladimir Putin attended a memorial service for Kaczynski, his wife, Maria, and the 94 other victims of yesterday's...

Kyrgyzstan Unrest Bears Putin's Fingerprints

How about a stop to the meddling, pleads Simon Tisdall

(Newser) - Vladimir Putin’s “sardonic” acknowledgment of the interim regime in Kyrgyzstan yesterday is just another clue that the Russian government was involved in ousting president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Simon Tisdall writes. It’s obvious: Putin essentially paid off Bakiyev to boot the US from a Kyrgyz air base, which ended...

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