Word: vladimir
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...from anyone to cast a shadow over the famous Maine lobster. But even this fabled treat failed to work as a sweetener on Russian President Vladimir Putin. On the way to Kennebunkport, where President George W. Bush's family were receiving "friend Vladimir" earlier his month, Putin had been particularly fretting about the prospective deployment in Europe of the U.S. Anti-Ballistic Missile system (ABM), a shield against missiles that rogue countries, Iran in particular, may be able to launch in future. In addition to ABM, which Putin considers a threat to Russia, NATO failed to ratify the Conventional Forces...
...conference held in Vienna last month turned a deaf ear to Russia's complaints; military delegations from Bulgaria and Hungary had been denied entry to Russian military units. Also last month, Russia turned down an invitation to take part in joint exercises with the U.S., Romania and Bulgaria. General Vladimir Shamanov, particularly notorious for aggressive tactics in Chechnya and now advisor to the Russian Defense Minister, said: "The Soviet Army took part in joint exercises with the Nazi Germany. Which resulted in Germany's perfidiously attacking the USSR. What trust there can be now, if the U.S. is deploying bases...
...Vladimir Ryzhkov, a democratic opposition leader and a rare independent member of the Duma, maintains that since the U.S. started this controversy by walking out of the ABM Treaty in 2002, there is a grain of truth in Putin's assertion that Russia was forced to respond. But Ryzhkov sees Putin's saber-rattling as "primarily an election-year message to the country: 'Your leader won't budge, no matter who formally becomes next President'." Polls show that this line works, Ryzhkov says: the Russians really...
President Vladimir Putin has long promised to restore Russian greatness and build an "energy empire." But until now, his empire-building had been confined to taking control of corporations operating on his turf, buying into businesses abroad, and blackmailing former Soviet Republics who dared vote against Moscow-backed candidates, moved to join NATO or acted in otherwise uppity ways. But Putin's imperial ambitions have recently added an element of classic 19th century-style territorial expansion: Late last month, Moscow signaled its intentions to annex the entire North Pole, an area twice the size of France with Belgium and Switzerland...
Winning the right to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games was so important to Russia, and to Vladimir Putin personally, that the Russian president himself led the country's final, formal presentation before the International Olympic Committee in Guatemala City on July 4. Rare for him, he even made his address in English, with finishing remarks in French...