...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...on Friday called for a single currency with the Kremlin's closest ex-Soviet allies despite fraying ties in the region which is struggling with the fallout from Moscow's economic crisis.
They could call it the "rubble."
Putin urged closer integration for his flagship Eurasian Economic Union -- which also includes Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia -- as Moscow scrambles to limit the damage from Western sanctions over Ukraine and tumbling oil prices.
"We think the time has come to discuss opportunities to form a potential currency union," Putin said at a meeting with his Kazakh and Belarusian counterparts in Kazakhtan's capital Astana.
"Working shoulder to shoulder, it is easier to react to external financial and economic threats, and protect our common market."
Political and economic ties between Moscow and the bloc's two other founding members, Belarus and energy-rich Kazakhstan, have been strained by the recent economic woes and jitters over Russia's alleged military involvement in Ukraine.
"Major trials have befallen our union," said Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev
...has served as the President of Kazakhstan since the Fall of the Soviet Union and the nation's independence in 1991. Contrary to commonly held belief, there is a difference between Kazakhs and Cossacks: Kazakhs have mustaches. Or maybe it's the other way around...
at the outset of the summit, while arguing for deeper cooperation.