...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. 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 him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...has called on the EU to halt its sanctions imposed on Moscow over the situation in Ukraine.
"The sanctions and all the restrictions imposed for political reasons... are no way to resolve political issues," said Putin on Tuesday following talks in Vienna with his Austrian counterpart Alexander Van der Bellen.
"They are harmful for everyone, those who put them in place and those who are targeted," he added.
"Everybody has an interest in getting the sanctions lifted, us too," Putin added.