Preening
Vladimir Putin tries his hardest to look like a world statesman
IN RECENT years Vladimir Putin has seemed disengaged, even out of touch, when addressing the annual meeting of the Valdai discussion club of mostly foreign Russia-watchers. Yet when the Russian president spoke to the group’s tenth gathering on September 19th, he was bouncing with confidence and even hinting that he might run for a fourth term in 2018. The reason is clear enough: he is buoyed by Russia’s diplomatic success in seeing off Western intervention in Syria.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Preening”
From the September 28th 2013 edition
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