When Russia’s first democratically elected president, Boris Yeltsin, resigned on New Year’s Eve in 1999, he asked Vladimir Putin, his handpicked but little-known successor, to “take care of Russia.”
Putin, celebrating 25 years in power with no sign of relinquishing a single bit of it, told Russia’s 144 million citizens (if they were indeed listening) during his Dec. 19 year-end news conference that he has not only carried out Yeltsin’s request but has gone above and beyond.
“I have not just taken care of it, but I believe we have stepped back from the edge of the abyss,” Putin said. “I have done everything so that Russia can be an independent and sovereign state that is capable of making decisions in its interests rather than in the interests of the countries that were dragging it toward them, patting it on the back, only to use it for their own purposes.”
Fact Or Bravado? You Be The Judge
FirstPost.com noted that Putin’s is as …Full story available on Benzinga.com
25 Years Of Vladimir Putin Marked by War, Devastated Economy: Russian Leader Looks To Trump For Support
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