[The Peninsula] President Vladimir Putin...Second and fourth President 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...
yesterday said Russia's takeover of Crimea showed off its military prowess, as his defence minister reported that the Russian flag was now flying over all military sites on the Black Sea peninsula.
In a Kremlin ceremony with security bigshots, Sergei Shoigu told Putin that all Ukrainian servicemen still loyal to Kiev have left the Crimea region, whose annexation by Moscow has led to the worst stand-off with the West since the Cold War.
"The recent events in Crimea were a serious test," Putin was shown on state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
as saying in an echoing and glided Kremlin hall.
"They demonstrated both the completely new capabilities of our Armed Forces and the high morale of the personnel."
A deputy head of the Federal Security Service
... the successor to the KGB...
, Alexander Malevany, told Putin at the meeting active measures were being taken to counter what he called growing Western efforts to weaken the Russian state and curb Moscow's influence in its post-Soviet backyard.
The United States and NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
have voiced alarm over what they say are thousands of Russian troops massed near its western border with Ukraine. Putin has reserved the right to send troops into Ukraine, which is home to a large population of Russian-speakers in the east.
Putin praised Russian troops for "avoiding bloodshed" in Crimea, whose largely ethnic Russian citizens overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in a March 16 referendum dismissed in the West as illegal.
Speaking to Ukrainian servicemen who chose to swap sides and swear allegiance to Russia, Putin hinted they would be well rewarded by pointing out that Russian servicemen earned some four times more than their Ukrainian counterparts.
Ukraine's former navy chief, Rear Admiral Denys Berezovsky, has been handed the deputy command of Russia's Black Sea Fleet after his defection. "The change in state symbols on all ships and in all divisions that have sided with the Russian army has been completed," Shoigu told Putin.
He said warships, war planes and other hardware seized from troops loyal to Kiev will be returned to Ukraine, which could help Russia avoid a potentially costly legal battle in international arbitration courts.
The Foreign Ministry also said Moscow would move to annul its lease agreement with Kiev that allowed it to base its Black Sea Fleet on the peninsula.
Despite signs that tensions with the West may be cooling as a status quo takes shape in Crimea, Malevany warned Putin that Moscow faces growing threats from the United States and its allies, who are trying to weaken Russia's influence on Ukraine. "There has been a sharp increase in external threats to the state," he said. "The lawful desire of the peoples of Crimea and eastern Ukrainian regions is causing hysteria in the United States and its allies."