Having taken control of a tottering economy, Putin shifted his focus to securing its position in the world.
Putin, clearly, can be identified as the man who restored Russia's clout that had dipped to all time low since the fall of the Soviet Union. His aggressive foreign policy has won him admirers as well as critics.
He, in fact, even threatened to target European cities with Russian nuclear missiles if they went along with US plans to install a missile defence shield over Eastern Europe. "If the US nuclear potential extends across the European territory and threatens Russia, we will be obliged to take countermeasures. Of course, we'll have to select new targets in Europe."
Putin warned that Moscow might suspend its obligations under the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty if talks with NATO countries on its implementation showed no progress. NATO members have been demanding that Russia first withdraw from Soviet-era bases in Georgia and Moldova as per earlier agreements before ratifying a fresh agreement.
However, the Russian leader retorted: "We are fully observing the provisions of the (CFE) treaty and have pulled out all heavy weaponry from the European part of Russia. We have reduced our armed forces by 300,000 personnel in the past few years, but what about our partners?"
"They are inundating Eastern Europe with new weapons -- a new base in Bulgaria, another base in Romania, a (missile interceptor) site in Poland, a radar in the Czech Republic. What are we supposed to do? We cannot just observe all this and continue to keep our obligations under the treaty."
Image: Putin at the Laureus World Sports Awards post awards dinner at the St.Petersburg Grand Philharmonic Hall in February.
Photographs: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
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