Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin for his 70th birthday Friday was gifted a tractor by the Belarusian president and told by the head of Russia's Orthodox Church that "God" put ...

"Putin has changed the position of Russia in the world and made it a nation to be reckoned with!" Kremlin-backed leader of Zaporizhzhia region Yevgeny Balitsky said on Telegram that "thanks to Vladimir Vladimirovich and the people of Russia, the Zaporizhzhia region became part of the great country, reunited with its family." "You gained the reputation of a national leader selflessly devoted to the Fatherland, sincerely loving the Motherland and giving all its strength to it," the Patriarch said. Kirill wished "health and a long life" to the Russian leader, who has been in power for more than 20 years. "God put you in power so that you could perform a service of special importance and of great responsibility for the fate of the country and the people entrusted to your care," the patriarch said, joining a chorus of Russian officials congratulating Putin on his birthday. The Patriarch praised Putin for "transforming the image of Russia, strengthening its sovereignty and its defence capability, protecting its national interests."

Putin is facing the biggest challenge of his 22-year reign, with a growing number of allies criticizing his handling of the Ukraine war.

Sadyr Japarov, president of Kyrgyzstan, has said he won't be attending. Shoigu has been [heavily criticized](https://www.newsweek.com/kherson-counteroffensive-sergei-shoigu-kirill-stremousov-1749452) with Russian forces being forced to retreat in Ukraine following successful counteroffensives launched by Kyiv. The Russian leader is attending an informal summit at the Constantine Palace near St. A spokesman for Japarov said the Kyrgyz leader wouldn't be going to the summit due to his work schedule. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that the meeting on Putin's birthday will be an important stage in preparation for a separate CIS summit poised to be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, next week. The Kremlin has said Putin will spend the day working, while several events have been planned for the Russian leader, including an informal meeting of heads of state of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in St.

In Russia, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill said that Putin's reign over Russia had been mandated by God. "God put you in power so ...

"Putin has changed the position of Russia in the world and made it a nation to be reckoned with!" Kremlin-backed leader of Zaporizhzhia region Yevgeny Balitsky said on Telegram that "thanks to Vladimir Vladimirovich and the people of Russia, the Zaporizhzhia region became part of the great country, reunited with its family." "You gained the reputation of a national leader selflessly devoted to the Fatherland, sincerely loving the Motherland and giving all its strength to it," the Patriarch said. "God put you in power so that you could perform a service of special importance and of great responsibility for the fate of the country and the people entrusted to your care," the patriarch said, joining a chorus of Russian officials congratulating Putin on his birthday. Kirill wished "health and a long life" to the Russian leader, who has been in power for more than 20 years. Vladimir Putin for his 70th birthday Friday was gifted a tractor by the Belarusian president and told by the head of Russia's Orthodox Church that "God" put him in power, while the Kremlin held back on celebrations as Moscow faces setbacks in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has received an unusual gift for his 70th birthday: a tractor.

Petersburg, President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus presented Putin with a gift certificate for the vehicle. As the leaders of several ex-Soviet nations met at the Czarist-era Konstantin Palace in St. Putin didn't mention the gift in televised remarks at the start of the meeting when he talked about the need to discuss ways of settling conflicts between ex-Soviet nations.

But Putin, whose passion is for empire, not communism, has a different view. He would love to restore the power of both czarist Russia and the Soviet Union, ...

Lenin called for “mass terror” against “class enemies,” and praised civil war itself as “the sharpest form of the class struggle.” He and his comrades venerated the radicals of the French Revolution, who had made free use of the guillotine. Beevor’s new study is all the more welcome because most Westerners have paid little attention to the fratricidal fury of the Russian Civil War, finding it bewilderingly complicated (true), and feeling that it didn’t really involve us (not true). But what came next, the civil war, affected every person in that huge country, and was truly the foundational trauma of its 20th century. For instance, he sees a parallel between the great boyar clans of several centuries ago—allowed to accumulate wealth and power but only at the czar’s pleasure—and [the oligarchs in Putin’s orbit](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/what-putin-wants/361622/). That effort began with the March 1917 overthrow of Czar Nicholas II, who seemed, to his ever more frustrated subjects, blithely unconcerned with the millions of dead and wounded and the catastrophic food shortages his empire was suffering in the First World War. [background in the secret police](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/how-putin-got-into-americas-mind/616330/), his dictatorial rule, and his [drive to extend](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/03/its-putins-world/513848/) the reach of that rule. [The Story of Russia](https://bookshop.org/a/12476/9781250796899), which is particularly strong in its sense of the continuities between past and present. In the 18th century, the Enlightenment passed the country by, and in the early 20th, Russia was the last absolute monarchy in Europe. Orlando Figes, a historian who taught at Cambridge and the University of London, gives a useful, compact survey in Before the U.S.S.R.’s collapse, in 1991, its rulers portrayed that war starkly: The Whites were evil reactionaries who tried to delay the glorious triumph of Soviet rule. Consider the Crusades, the Holocaust, the lynchings of thousands of Black Americans in the South, and, for that matter, the two recent Russian wars against the Muslim Chechens. [strewn on the streets of Bucha](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/world/europe/russia-bucha-ukraine-executions.html), hands bound behind their backs.

Who do you share YOUR birthday with? Brain isn't too happy with some of the names on today's list!

I'll share my birthday with a guy with the middle name of 'Cougar' any day. A song about the plight of the family farm. As I scanned down the list of other celebs with birthdays today, I just wanted someone cool to join. I had the pleasure of seeing him once in concert and he played the tightest 90-minute set I've ever seen. so Simon Cowell isn't a dictator but he has hurled his share of insults at up-and-coming singers during his career. I already knew that I didn't share my birthday with anyone that I really liked or looked up to.

These vignettes are from Antony Beevor's just-published “Russia: Revolution and Civil War, 1917-1921.” A military historian who has written about many cockpits ...

[Russia-Ukraine war](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/ukraine-russia/?itid=lb_war-in-ukraine-what-you-need-to-know_17). 21 to call up as many as [300,000 reservists](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/21/russia-partial-mobilization-putin-war-ukraine/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2&itid=lb_war-in-ukraine-what-you-need-to-know_6) in a dramatic bid to reverse setbacks in his war on Ukraine. [Putin declared a military mobilization](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/21/putin-speech-annexation-ukraine-russia/?itid=lb_war-in-ukraine-what-you-need-to-know_5) on Sept. Sign up to [follow him](https://www.washingtonpost.com/newsletters/follow-max-boot/?method=SURL&location=ART&initiative=CB&itid=cb_box_ULD5TBPCTJCOPDGU6QTEH7YPI4_18). President Volodymyr Zelensky also said Friday that Ukraine is [applying for “accelerated ascension” into NATO](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/30/ukraine-application-nato-russia-war/?itid=lb_war-in-ukraine-what-you-need-to-know_4), in an apparent answer to the annexations. [annex four occupied regions of Ukraine](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/30/putin-ukraine-annexation-russia-ceremony/?itid=lb_war-in-ukraine-what-you-need-to-know_1), following staged referendums that were widely denounced as illegal. Sign up to [follow him](https://www.washingtonpost.com/newsletters/follow-josh-rogin/?method=SURL&location=ART&initiative=CB&itid=cb_box_ULD5TBPCTJCOPDGU6QTEH7YPI4_15). Sign up to [follow him](https://www.washingtonpost.com/newsletters/follow-fareed-zakaria/?method=SURL&location=ART&initiative=CB&itid=cb_box_ULD5TBPCTJCOPDGU6QTEH7YPI4_10). … I’ve already become a murderer.”) And after reading Putin’s [speech](https://www.reuters.com/world/extracts-putins-speech-annexation-ceremony-2022-09-30/) on the “outright Satanism” of “the West,” this is the question: Sign up to [follow him](https://www.washingtonpost.com/newsletters/follow-david-ignatius/?method=SURL&%3Blocation=ART&%3Binitiative=CB&itid=cb_box_ULD5TBPCTJCOPDGU6QTEH7YPI4_4). (“Most of the 436 bodies had signs of violent death including gunshot wounds, broken limbs, bound hands and amputated genitalia.”) After reading the Journal’s [report](https://www.wsj.com/articles/electric-shock-extortion-and-slave-labor-how-russia-ran-a-detention-camp-in-occupied-ukraine-11664444466) from the city of Vovchansk. [report](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2022/bucha-atrocities-civilian-killings/?itid=lk_inline_manual_15) from Bucha, where Russian occupiers beheaded a man, then “burned his head and left it out for all to see.” After reading the Associated Press [report](https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-business-treatment-of-prisoners-government-and-politics-aec9afe8d6631795ae9f9478a4ede4cc) on the 10 torture sites its reporters visited in Izyum after this Ukrainian city was liberated from Russian occupation.

The same day, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to three human rights organisations and activists: Ales Bialiatski of Belarus, Russia's Memorial group and ...

"Putin has changed the position of Russia in the world and made it a nation to be reckoned with!" Kremlin-backed leader of Zaporizhzhia region Yevgeny Balitsky said on Telegram that "thanks to Vladimir Vladimirovich and the people of Russia, the Zaporizhzhia region became part of the great country, reunited with its family." "You gained the reputation of a national leader selflessly devoted to the Fatherland, sincerely loving the Motherland and giving all its strength to it," the Patriarch said. "God put you in power so that you could perform a service of special importance and of great responsibility for the fate of the country and the people entrusted to your care," the patriarch said, joining a chorus of Russian officials congratulating Putin on his birthday. Kirill wished "health and a long life" to the Russian leader, who has been in power for more than 20 years. Vladimir Putin for his 70th birthday Friday was gifted a tractor by the Belarusian president and told by the head of Russia's Orthodox Church that "God" put him in power, while the Kremlin held back on celebrations as Moscow faces setbacks in Ukraine.

It was given him by his Belarusian ally, Alexander Lukashenko, whose country boasts a tractor works. Mr Lukashenko confirmed the news as he visited his fellow ...

[Reznikov called on Russia's military to reject him and refuse to fight his war](https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2022/10/7/7370732/), saying Mr Putin was "hiding in a bunker rather than standing" with his soldiers. Along with the gifts came praise for Mr Putin for "transforming the image of Russia, strengthening its sovereignty and its defence capability, and protecting its national interests", in the words of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill. Mr Putin's enemies used the occasion of his birthday again to depict him as a war criminal trying to destroy another country while ruining his own. A tractor is one of the odder gifts for Vladimir Putin, as Russia's president, a pariah in the West since his invasion of Ukraine, turns 70. Mr Lukashenko, Europe's self-styled "last dictator" who has been in power even longer than the Russian leader (since 1994) and whose administration is also under Western sanctions, came to St Petersburg with a gift certificate for the Belarusian-made vehicle. Mr Putin was hosting other leaders of ex-Soviet states as the war fanned by his invasion raged.

To learn that an American president is talking so frankly about the possibility of nuclear "Armageddon," as Joe Biden did Thursday, is bone chilling.

All of his previous tactical assumptions and decisions in Ukraine have backfired and don’t show the kind of strategic caution and clear thinking that is critical when the question becomes whether or not to use nuclear weapons. “The fact is that President Putin and Russia have shown absolutely no interest in any kind of meaningful diplomacy. And if and when Russia shows that it has any seriousness of purpose, about engaging in such diplomacy, we’ll be ready, we’ll be there. Biden has been scrupulous in trying to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia over Ukraine even though Putin has styled the conflict as a showdown with the West. Ukraine is in no mood to talk after suffering an unprovoked invasion that has caused human carnage, especially as it now appears to have Russian troops on the run. Biden’s comments on Thursday underscore the burden that he now shoulders since the first president since the end of the Cold War more than 30 years ago who faces the frightening reality that nuclear war with Moscow is possible. In other words, Biden may be reasserting a measure of deterrence after Putin warned that he was not bluffing over his threat to possibly use a nuclear bomb. The White House says it has warned the Kremlin that such a decision would be “catastrophic” for Russia but has not said publicly exactly how they would respond – though there is speculation NATO might get involved and directly target Russian forces, a scenario that could lead to a dangerous escalation with Moscow. Biden’s remarks, at a fundraising event in New York, could open him to criticism by political opponents that he is speaking in an inartful way about nuclear war – and at a political fundraiser of all places. There has also been no shift in the US nuclear posture, the official said. But Biden’s musings do appear to offer a window into his thinking as he games out how this crisis ends. Presidents are often less guarded during political fundraising events, which are usually not on camera even though a press pool is allowed in for some remarks.

The Pentagon said Friday that it still has seen no indications that Vladimir Putin is planning to launch nuclear weapons after President Joe Biden warned of ...

But if Putin chooses to go down that route, the West may not have much advance notice, officials warned. “I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily [use] a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.” Where does he find himself in a position that he does not only lose face but lose significant power within Russia?” Patrick Ryder told reporters that the department does not have any information that would cause it to change its nuclear posture. officials told POLITICO that nothing has changed on the nuclear front in the past 24 hours. is taking Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons, Defense Department spokesperson J.

Minyaylo, 37, is perhaps best known in Russia for his efforts to get non-Kremlin affiliated candidates on the ballot for the 2019 Moscow city elections. In the ...

"People will die in the process," he said. A former deputy minister of energy in 2002, of late Milov has been associated with Navalny's efforts to run against Putin for president. Revolutions happen mostly on their own because of the mistakes government's make," he said. "At a certain point, this may look like a salvation to Putin. [wrote](https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/10/04/when-kadyrov-speaks-prigozhin-echoes) on Meduza, an independent news site, referring to the liberated Ukrainian city." His remarks were quickly amplified by Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, a firm of military contractors. "Putin is very good at holding power, so I don't believe that anything can be done just by people revolting," he said. He hopes it will also contain a commitment by Western nations to ease sanctions and eventually give Russians a chance to return to normal life. With the lost war in Ukraine, the dissatisfaction of the masses, and the paralysis of the state apparatus, the suggestion to find a successor will not look like an act of disloyalty to him anymore," he said. It would all be well and good if it weren't so bad." 24 invasion of Ukraine, with all the risks that brings. "He has moral capital [from being in jail] and he has a lot of ideological followers who are ready to go to work," said Minyaylo, the activist.

Vladimir Putin, who turned 70 on Friday, received a tractor for his birthday from the president of Belarus. Tractors have been the pride of Belarusian ...

[PUTIN SIGNS LAWS ANNEXING 4 UKRAINIAN REGIONS OF DONETSK, LUHANSK, KHERSON AND ZAPORIZHZHIA](https://www.foxnews.com/world/putin-signs-laws-annexing-ukrainian-regions-donetsk-luhansk-kherson-zaporizhzhia) [PUTIN'S DESIRE TO BRING BACK SOVIET UNION, ADVANCED AGE DRIVING INVASION, UKRAINE CAUCUS CO-CHAIR SAYS](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/putins-desire-to-bring-back-soviet-union-advanced-age-driving-invasion-ukraine-caucus-co-chair-says) Petersburg, President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus presented Putin with a gift certificate for the vehicle.

President Joe Biden said the risk of nuclear "Armageddon" is the highest it's been in roughly 60 years after renewed threats by Russian President Vladimir ...

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President Joe Biden on Thursday delivered a stark warning about the dangers behind Russian President Vladimir Putin's nuclear threats as Moscow continues to ...

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s Tuesday statement that there has been no indication of a change in Russia’s posture and therefore no change in the US posture still stands, the official said. “As I’ve mentioned before, at this stage, we do not have any information to cause us to change our strategic deterrence posture, and we don’t assess that President Putin has made a decision to use nuclear weapons at this time.” Still, US officials have taken somber note of the Russian President’s repeated public threats to use nuclear weapons. “We’ve got a guy I know fairly well,” Biden said of Putin Thursday. “I’m trying to figure out what is Putin’s off ramp?” Biden said during the event, “Where does he find a way out? However, experts view them as potential options the US must prepare for as Russia’s invasion falters and as Moscow annexes more Ukrainian territory.

President Biden warned of the prospect of "Armageddon" due to Vladimir Putin's nuclear threats.

Where does he find himself in a position that he does not - not only lose face but lose significant power within Russia?” Where does he find a way out? “I don't think there's any such thing as the ability to easily (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.”

President Joe Biden issued a stark warning about Vladimir Putin's nuclear threats on Thursday, telling a crowd at a New York City fundraiser that the world ...

president in the most attentive way." [60 Minutes](https://people.com/tag/60-minutes/) in September, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said [the U.S. He was not discussing Putin's power in Russia, or regime change." What's more, Biden added, the world is as close to nuclear "Armageddon" as it has been in decades. It's not the first time Biden has gone beyond other U.S. It's not a bluff," per a Reuters report.

President Biden has mused publicly on whether there might be an “off-ramp” for nuclear threats from the Russian leader that invoke Cold War rhetoric.

Of course, that is exactly the kind of assessment Mr. Early this year, he demanded that NATO sign a treaty that would have essentially rolled the alliance back to what it looked like in the late 1990s. Then, of course, there is the possibility of attacks on energy infrastructure — perhaps similar to what happened last week, mysteriously, to the So it was a surprise that the first member of the administration to talk openly about how to avoid forcing Mr. But behind closed doors, some Western diplomats and military officials say, that is exactly the conversation that may have to happen if the goal is to balance winning back territory against preventing Mr. Biden’s description of the risks into a strategy that fits the moment. [in eastern cities like Lyman](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/01/world/europe/lyman-ukraine-russia.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-russia-ukraine&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc), Ukraine is pushing farther into Russian-held territory [in the south](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/04/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-russia-ukraine&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc), expanding its campaign as Moscow struggles to [mount a response](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/05/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-russia-ukraine&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc)and [hold the line](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/03/world/europe/russia-disarray-ukraine.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-russia-ukraine&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc). Nonetheless, the main message that Mr. American officials said they were not aware of the plan ahead of time and that they had admonished Ukraine over it. They have offered no details, knowing that secrecy may be the key to seeking any successful exit and avoiding the conditions in which a cornered Mr. It is a hard topic to talk about in public for most officials, for fear of inducing public panic or market sell-offs. President Biden’s declaration on Thursday night that the world may be facing “the prospect of Armageddon” if President Vladimir V.

President Biden's warning this week that Russia's threats to use nuclear weapons amounted to the most serious “prospect of Armageddon in 60 years” was not ...

Vladimir Putin observed his 70th birthday Friday amid his military's ongoing setbacks in Ukraine. Two friendly world leaders gifted the Russian president a ...

In contrast with Lukashenko and Rahmon, Putin's enemies did not approach his birthday with enthusiasm. The trio is also half the membership of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a regional military alliance. [October 7, 2022] According to the report, tractors have been an industrial staple in Belarus for decades, and Lukashenko said he uses a model similar to the one he gifted to Putin. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, meanwhile, presented Putin with a gift certificate for a tractor, the Associated Press [reported](https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-st-petersburg-government-and-politics-8ae8fd9270a883d06a09ddd7efbf08f3?utm_medium=AP_Oddities&utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=SocialFlow). Russian President Vladimir Putin found out Friday as his friends and enemies sent melons, a gift certificate for a tractor, and death wishes.

Vladimir Putin probably never thought he'd be celebrating his 70th birthday this way. The Russian leader, who cut a ruthless path to power and changed the ...

He played second fiddle to Putin at the Federal Security Service (FSB), but when Putin became acting prime minister in 1999, Patrushev took his place. Dyumin will be excellent as a president for the power elite," "We looked each other in the eyes, he stepped back a bit. He looks around, but the steering wheel is missing," then-US ambassador in Moscow, John Beyrle, wrote in his dispatch to Washington DC. All the best!" They would much rather that Russia did not exist at all. They want us, Russia, to die. [Patrushev is the most dangerous man in Russia](https://www.buzzsprout.com/1026985/4169738), in a unique position to influence the president and "encourage an aggressive, adventurist agenda". "There's no money, but hang in there. They are bastards and degenerates. "He turns to Putin and asks: 'Vladimir Vladimirovich, where is the steering wheel?' Putin pulls a remote control out of his pocket and says: 'I'll be the one doing the driving'." "Because there is no obvious mechanism for a peaceful transition of power, there is potential for a power vacuum to develop in the event of Putin's ouster."

The US president says the world is facing its biggest nuclear threat since the Cuban Missile Crisis, as Russia threatens to use the powerful weapons in its ...

"In Zaporizhzhia, after the first rocket strike today, when people came to pick apart the rubble, Russia conducted a second rocket strike. He also said that investigators had found evidence of 22 "torture rooms". The total included 447 bodies found in Izium. Vladimir Solovyov, one of the most prominent Russian talk show hosts, said on his channel. "There are successes in the east as well. "Do you think time is on our side?

Paris – U.S. President Joe Biden admitted this week that American diplomats still did not know how Russian President Vladimir Putin could bring an end to ...

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