Sometimes it seems the Russian leader get his PR spot on, sometimes he is way off. On the days he is way off, we are treated to cracking one liners and off the cuff remarks
Turkey has obviously caused him some major embarrassments over the last couple of months and he is always keen to appear strong to his people. Putin’s use of street/pub talk, appealing to his ‘man on the street’ was present in today’s press conference when he said “The Turks, had decided to lick the Americans in a certain place”. A ‘two for one’ cheap shot.
Just to add to the controversy he followed up with other topical issues such as…
- Praised Sepp Blatter and suggested the suspended head of Fifa should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
- Denied Russian regular troops were deployed in rebel-held eastern Ukraine but said there could be “people there who were carrying out certain tasks including in the military sphere”
- called Donald Trump a “very colourful, talented person” and the “absolute frontrunner in the presidential race”.
Putin did save some of the best until last when suggesting the Russian economy was recovering.
As much as I fear the un-checked deployment of Tory policies back in the UK, at least we know that David is a soft touch really. Some well planned, sustained objections,
can avert the worst policies seeing the light of day. Vladimir makes for a much more formidable opponent, even if he appears to be joking.
Paddling upstream 