Indeed, Mr Putin's military deployments signal that he will not let the Assad regime fall.
On Thursday Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks on Syria with his French counterpart Francois Hollande.
Mr Putin has accused the NGOs of meddling in politics on behalf of foreign powers.
President Bill Clinton and Russian President Vladimir Putin to strike a bad deal for America.
In his twelve years in power, Putin has made Russia into a repressive Soviet state.
Meeting with Van der Veer in the Hague last November, Putin reportedly criticized the cost escalation.
In Moscow he ran Mr Putin's presidential campaign and chaired Gazprom, the gas giant.
He comes from Mr Putin's native St Petersburg and studied law at the same university.
Mr Putin has hinted that more state companies will, sooner or later, be privatised.
But if he is secure at home, Mr Putin is on shakier ground abroad.
In St Petersburg on Wednesday President Putin handed out the first batch of golden medals.
That should not stop Mr Putin winning a second term, if he wants one, in 2004.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has set the target of doubling the country's GDP in 10 years.
Putin did not say whether Khodorkovsky and Lebedev would be included in the amnesty.
As Mr Putin has said, Russia should present a smiling face to the world.
Mr Putin said this would go ahead, but only on a strictly mutual basis.
One can imagine Putin wanting to change the subject from his backtracking from democracy at home.
Little wonder Mr. Putin personally welcomed them home singing the unofficial anthem of the KGB.
Putin does not even have to issue directions to the courts or to the media.
There was even some hope that Putin would pick Kudrin as Prime Minister instead of Medvedev.
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The timing of the Boston marathon slaughter also could not have been more propitious for Putin.
Putin has shown a lack of interested in joining the general fight against Islamic extremism.
The Chechen link has given Putin a prize that he will exploit to the last drop.
Putin thanked the United States for helping Russia join the World Trade Organization last December.
"I consider it quite correct to make changes to the appropriate documents, " Mr Putin replied.
Like many other authoritarians, Vladimir Putin's regime in Moscow derives its legitimacy in part from anti-Americanism.
Putin has said repeatedly that new calls for nationalization could be detrimental to Russia.
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Since Mr Putin's re-election last March, legal action against opposition figures has increased markedly.
Mr Depardieu was granted Russian citizenship by a decree signed by Mr Putin on 3 January.
Since Mr Putin's re-election in March 2011, legal action against opposition figures has increased markedly.
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