Putin predicts global 'chaos' if West hits Syria again

[webfact]

Putin predicts global 'chaos' if West hits Syria again

By Jack Stubbs and Laila Bassam

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting dedicated to fire, that killed at least 64 people at a busy shopping mall, in Kemerovo, Russia March 27, 2018. Sputnik/Alexei Druzhinin/Kremlin via REUTERS/File Photo

 

MOSCOW/DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Sunday that further Western attacks on Syria would bring chaos to world affairs, as Washington prepared to increase pressure on Russia with new economic sanctions.

 

In a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, Putin and Rouhani agreed that the Western strikes had damaged the chances of achieving a political resolution in the seven-year Syria conflict, according to a Kremlin statement.

 

"Vladimir Putin, in particular, stressed that if such actions committed in violation of the U.N. Charter continue, then it will inevitably lead to chaos in international relations," the Kremlin statement said.

 

Meanwhile, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, told CBS' "Face the Nation" program that the United States would announce new economic sanctions on Monday aimed at companies "that were dealing with equipment" related to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's alleged chemical weapons use.

 

On Saturday, the United States, France and Britain launched 105 missiles targeting what the Pentagon said were three chemical weapons facilities in Syria in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack in Douma on April 7.

 

The Western countries blame Assad for the Douma attack that killed dozens of people. The Syrian government and its ally Russia have denied involvement in any such attack.

 

The bombings marked the biggest intervention by Western countries against Assad and ally Russia.

 

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that he had convinced Trump, who has previously said he wanted to take U.S. forces out of Syria, to stay for "the long term."

 

The United States, France and Britain have said the missile strikes were limited to Syria's chemical weapons capabilities and not aimed at toppling Assad or intervening in the civil war. Macron said in an interview broadcast by BFM TV, RMC radio and Mediapart online news that he had convinced Trump to focus on the chemical weapons sites.

 

'HARD FOR US, BUT WILL DO MORE DAMAGE TO THE USA'

 

Responding to Haley's remarks about the plans for new sanctions, Evgeny Serebrennikov, deputy head of the defence committee of Russia's upper house of parliament, said Moscow was ready for the penalties, according to RIA news agency.

 

"They are hard for us, but will do more damage to the USA and Europe," RIA quoted Serebrennikov as saying.

 

In Damascus, Syria's deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, met inspectors from the global chemical weapons watchdog OPCW for about three hours in the presence of Russian officers and a senior Syrian security official.

 

The inspectors were due to attempt to visit the Douma site. Moscow condemned the Western states for refusing to wait for the OPCW's findings before attacking.

 

Mekdad declined to comment to reporters waiting outside the hotel where the meeting took place.

 

Assad told a group of visiting Russian lawmakers that the Western missile strikes were an act of aggression, Russian news agencies reported.

 

Russian agencies quoted the lawmakers as saying that Assad was in a "good mood", had praised the Soviet-era air defence systems Syria used to repel the Western attacks and had accepted an invitation to visit Russia at an unspecified time.

 

Trump had said "mission accomplished" on Twitter after the strikes, though U.S. Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie at the Pentagon acknowledged elements of the programme remain and he could not guarantee that Syria would be unable to conduct a chemical attack in the future.

 

Russian and Iranian military help over the past three years has allowed Assad to crush the rebel threat to topple him.

 

Though Israel has at times urged stronger U.S. involvement against Assad and his Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah reinforcements in Syria, it voiced backing for Saturday's air strikes by Western powers.

 

RISK OF WIDER CONFRONTATION

 

The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Sunday that Western strikes on Syria had failed to achieve anything, including terrorizing the army, helping insurgents or serving the interests of Israel.

 

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the U.S. military had kept its strikes limited because it knew a wider attack would spark retaliation from Damascus and its allies and inflame the region.

 

"The American (military) knows well that going towards a wide confrontation and a big operation against the regime and the army and the allied forces in Syria could not end, and any such confrontation would inflame the entire region," Nasrallah said.

 

The heavily armed, Iranian-backed Shi'ite Hezbollah movement, which fights alongside the Syrian army and is represented in the Beirut government, has been a vital ally of Damascus in Syria's seven-year war.

 

France, the United States and Britain circulated a draft resolution to U.N. Security Council late on Saturday that aims to establish a new independent inquiry into who is to responsible for chemical weapons attacks in Syria. The mechanism would look at cases where the OPCW fact-finding mission has established chemical weapons were used or likely used.

 

Diplomats said negotiations on the draft resolution would begin on Monday and it was not immediately clear when the United States, France and Britain wanted to put it to a vote.

 

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Tom Perry; Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell and Joel Schectman in Washington; Michelle Nichols in New York; Samia Nakhoul, Tom Perry, Laila Bassam, Ellen Francis and Angus McDowall in Beirut; Kinda Makieh in Barzeh; Michael Holden and Guy Faulconbridge in London; and Jean-Baptiste Vey, Geert de Clercq and Matthias Blamont in Paris; Andrey Ostroukh and Jack Stubbs in Moscow; Alison Bevege in Sydney; Writing by Richard Cowan; Editing by Caren Bohan and Nick Zieminski)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-04-16

[FreddieRoyle]

I don't understand why Putin didn't take out the Cypress bases after USA's illegal missile raids on Syria. Bashar Al Assad is a legend, one of the last strongmen like Hussein, Gadaffi, that kept the evil ideologies pervasive in their countries in check. As we have seen, every time, topple the strongmen in charge and you get absolute chaos. 

 

 This is a real low point in western foreign policy. They have clearly learned nothing at all from past overseas interventions. I get the feeling Trump did this to impress the liberals that have been at his throat the past year. Saving the poor (allegedly) gassed children in Syria, great Trump impress the young, idealistic and naive, but stop it right now. Enough is enough.

[BuriramSam]

5 minutes ago, FreddieRoyle said:

I don't understand why Putin didn't take out the Cypress bases after USA's illegal missile raids on Syria. Bashar Al Assad is a legend, one of the last strongmen like Hussein, Gadaffi, that kept the evil ideologies pervasive in their countries in check. As we have seen, every time, topple the strongmen in charge and you get absolute chaos. 

 

 This is a real low point in western foreign policy. They have clearly learned nothing at all from past overseas interventions. I get the feeling Trump did this to impress the liberals that have been at his throat the past year. Saving the poor (allegedly) gassed children in Syria, great Trump impress the young, idealistic and naive, but stop it right now. Enough is enough.

You make a good point. While everyone is focused on getting rid of Assad, who is thinking about what/who will replace him? Just look at all the countries in chaos after *help* from the US and other western countries.

[BuriramSam]

And the beating of war drums continues. Clearly it's the KGB hack's turn. Sadly, it appears Trump has fallen to the will of the war machine.

[bristolboy]

43 minutes ago, FreddieRoyle said:

I don't understand why Putin didn't take out the Cypress bases after USA's illegal missile raids on Syria. Bashar Al Assad is a legend, one of the last strongmen like Hussein, Gadaffi, that kept the evil ideologies pervasive in their countries in check. As we have seen, every time, topple the strongmen in charge and you get absolute chaos. 

 

 This is a real low point in western foreign policy. They have clearly learned nothing at all from past overseas interventions. I get the feeling Trump did this to impress the liberals that have been at his throat the past year. Saving the poor (allegedly) gassed children in Syria, great Trump impress the young, idealistic and naive, but stop it right now. Enough is enough.

Yes, it's the liberals' fault. Just another variation of "The devil made me do it."

[goldenbrwn1]

47 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Yes, it's the liberals' fault. Just another variation of "The devil made me do it."

Of course it’s not the liberal lefts fault, but they could of maybe been a louder voice speaking out against this attack occurring in the first place.   The left wing of the past was always a great anti-war movement but these days seems more interested obsessing about gender pronouns and hating on white males....ect

Edited April 16, 2018 by goldenbrwn1

[bristolboy]

8 minutes ago, goldenbrwn1 said:

Of course it’s not the liberal lefts fault, but they could of maybe been a louder voice speaking out against this attack occurring in the first place.   The left wing of the past was always a great anti-war movement but these days seems more interested obsessing about gender pronouns and hating on white males....ect ect.

I guess you don't follow the news much, do you?

https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2018/04/13/key-democrats-want-trump-to-hit-the-brakes-on-syria-strike/

[goldenbrwn1]

23 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

I guess you don't follow the news much, do you?

Yes polititions of both sides have spoke up , I agree. But where are all the youngsters who love to march with those placards?  If Ben Shapiro or Jordon Peterson were to tweet they were going to speak at Berkeley tomorrow........there would be thousands on the streets and probably rioting aswell.  I just think the left has completely lost its way over the last decade.  

 

Bristol lad ay?   I’m from the south mate....wester..originally. 

Edited April 16, 2018 by goldenbrwn1

[Ulic]

2 hours ago, FreddieRoyle said:

I don't understand why Putin didn't take out the Cypress bases after USA's illegal missile raids on Syria. Bashar Al Assad is a legend, one of the last strongmen like Hussein, Gadaffi, that kept the evil ideologies pervasive in their countries in check. As we have seen, every time, topple the strongmen in charge and you get absolute chaos. 

 

 This is a real low point in western foreign policy. They have clearly learned nothing at all from past overseas interventions. I get the feeling Trump did this to impress the liberals that have been at his throat the past year. Saving the poor (allegedly) gassed children in Syria, great Trump impress the young, idealistic and naive, but stop it right now. Enough is enough.

Bashar Al Assad was no different for Syria than the Saudi royal family is for Saudi Arabia.

The only difference is Assad is aligned with Russia and Russia has it's only foreign naval

base in Syria. Obama armed the Assad opposition hoping for a new regime that would close

that base. This brought civil war to Syria and has led to 500,000 deaths and a refugee crisis

across Europe. While western news organizations put all the deaths at the hands of Assad

both sides are equally guilty of war crimes. Brexit, the refugee crisis and all the deaths in Syria

are on the hands of Obama as much as Assad. Maybe even more. The only thing I know is

neither side can be trusted with the truth. Both lie and spin the news. Iraq, Libya, Ukraine, Syria,

will the US ever learn. Let the middle east sort out there own internal conflicts. Let Iran and

Saidi Arabia have at it. War is miserable. A little taste between these two countries instead

of proxy wars, (Russia-USA in Syria, Iran-Saudi Arabia in Yemen, things ramping up in Qutar)

I shake my head. 

[BuaBS]

If Clinton was elected , this would have happened a year ago and much worse than this farse of retaliation on 3 empty sites.

[Eagle60]

We can all comment with bravado and macho war calls from the safety of our computers but if (and I hope it never does) this spills into our countries, I wonder how many of us will support it then. When instead of seeing bombs going off on television like some Hollywood movie, it is our families blown to pieces, our streets and our lives wrecked by such irresponsible foreign policy. It is not about which political side you believe in, as it is obvious, all sides of the political divide have been irresponsibly bombing foreign countries under their watch. Both in Europe and USA. This is an agenda that has no political side. People who have never been to war or experienced it, should never be in a position of power to send others. This has nothing to do with supposed chemical attacks, which I have severe doubts about anyway, as history tells us we can not believe much we hear on BBC or CNN, certainly can not believe much of what is written in the newspapers and would be naive to believe a lot of politicians based on their track records. This has everything to do with pipelines, paranoia and a desire to control the world and suffocate Russia. Did our countries help the people of Rwandan when approximately 1 million men, women, children and babies were butchered. No, we did nothing and let it happen. So if anyone thinks they are bombing Syria in response to supposed chemical attacks, think again. What amazes me is the seemingly apathetic reaction from so many, who are still in TV land and just don't see what is really going on. This is madness and this sort of madness has been seen before in history and look at the results. Millions dead. Albeit in certain parts of history it was sadly required as our countries were being attacked. But we are not being attacked.  I do not believe Syria is a threat. Assad like so many of these leaders was a friend to the West until they decided they did not want him anymore. Russia has very little history of wanting to dominate the world. Whereas sadly us Westerners have. We live in a cotton wool protected environment with no memory of war, (depending on age) other than what we see on TV. Any sane intelligent human being would completely condemn what our leaders are doing. From my understanding the rebels our politicians support, are basically violent terrorists, who have committed terrible atrocities. Who created them and armed them ? Was it the same maniacs who armed Al Qaeda ?  I am not in any way taking sides but just expressing common sense and what is obvious. I for one hope there is a complete deescalation of arms. I hope for all of us and our families sake's our leaders listen to what Putin is saying. I am no fan of his, but he is right. It could throw the world into chaos and for what ?

Edited April 16, 2018 by davidcc
spelling corrections

[LomSak27]

3 hours ago, FreddieRoyle said:

don't understand why Putin didn't take out the Cypress bases after USA's illegal missile raids on Syria

Really .... Ok, when Turkey shot down a Russian jet and the pilot was killed, Russia attacked .....................

Oh, right they did not attack. So they would attack British/US Cyprus base for an attack that did not kill any Russians. The Russian Chemical engineers having fled when Humpty Dumpty gave Prince Vlad 24 hours notice they might strike Hmmmm  Methinks why don't you crack open another Leo and chill. Songkran, dude, drink up. 

Edited April 16, 2018 by LomSak27

[Stargeezr]

Assad the war criminal should be in prison, and as Putin Is helping a war criminal,

he should be in a cell as well. Ukraine, and the Crimea come to mind as to

why I think that way.

Geezer

[Eagle60]

35 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Assad the war criminal should be in prison, and as Putin Is helping a war criminal,

he should be in a cell as well. Ukraine, and the Crimea come to mind as to

why I think that way.

Geezer

Yep could not agree more and please lets send Blair, Bush, May, Trump, Obama, Clinton, French President I forget his name and all those others that so clearly and evidently as bad as them.

[Andaman Al]

1 hour ago, davidcc said:

Did our countries help the people of Rwandan when approximately 1 million men, women, children and babies were butchered. No, we did nothing and let it happen. So if anyone thinks they are bombing Syria in response to supposed chemical attacks, think again.

As one of our esteemed Trump supporters recently wrote "Hammer on the nail" , I know you and the other clever people will work it out 

 

What you have written is an inconvenient truth and many on here do not have the processing power to consider such facts and work them through to their sad and terrifying conclusion.

 

By the way, a top tip - many of the people that your post is aimed at are unable to concentrate on posts that are in paragraphs containing more than 6 lines, so as important as your post is, it won't reach the angular or super marginal gyrus let alone the frontal lobes of those it needs to.

[Jingthing]

Putin may be somewhat exaggerating with his prediction here, and I think he should stick to predicting sure things like the results of Russian sham "elections"  ... BUT ... there is no doubt IF an escalation in Syria leads to direct conflict between Russian and the USA then we will indeed be in deep doo doo. Dangerous times. 

Edited April 16, 2018 by Jingthing

[Retiredandhappyhere]

24 minutes ago, Andaman Al said:

As one of our esteemed Trump supporters recently wrote "Hammer on the nail" , I know you and the other clever people will work it out 

 

What you have written is an inconvenient truth and many on here do not have the processing power to consider such facts and work them through to their sad and terrifying conclusion.

 

By the way, a top tip - many of the people that your post is aimed at are unable to concentrate on posts that are in paragraphs containing more than 6 lines, so as important as your post is, it won't reach the angular or super marginal gyrus let alone the frontal lobes of those it needs to.

Wow, another arrogant poster claiming to be so much more intelligent than most people on here.  Are you by any chance a close friend of Grouse, who constantly displays similar attributes?  Why do you find it necessary to be so abusive?  It dilutes the content of your messages.

[Andaman Al]

20 minutes ago, Retiredandhappyhere said:

Wow, another arrogant poster claiming to be so much more intelligent than most people on here.  Are you by any chance a close friend of Grouse, who constantly displays similar attributes?  Why do you find it necessary to be so abusive?  It dilutes the content of your messages.

It seems a nerve has been struck.  

[FitnessHealthTravel]

As usual it is GREAT to see so many EXPERTS here on this forum.  This should be the 'go to' place for all Politicians everywhere for their Foreign Policy decisions.

[Jingthing]

5 minutes ago, FitnessHealthTravel said:

As usual it is GREAT to see so many EXPERTS here on this forum.  This should be the 'go to' place for all Politicians everywhere for their Foreign Policy decisions.

You're welcome? 

[Media1]

Putin who cares what he says. 

[Jingthing]

Putin who cares what he says. 

Russians apparently.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Srikcir]

56 minutes ago, FitnessHealthTravel said:

As usual it is GREAT to see so many EXPERTS here on this forum.  This should be the 'go to' place for all Politicians everywhere for their Foreign Policy decisions.

Drunk or sober any OP in this forum has more expertise than Trump in foreign policy. He's welcomed to join the forum anytime. Unfortunately his fowl language and trolling will probably suspend him permanently.

[Srikcir]

26 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Russians apparently.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Putin's approval rating has not fallen below 80% since March 2014.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/08/dubious-polls-media-vladimir-putin-election-popularity-propaganda

A recent poll [Jan. 2018] carried out by the Levada Center, Russia’s only major independent pollster, shows 86% of respondents aged 18 to 24 approved of Putin’s actions as president. He enjoys the same approval rating in the 25- to 39-year-old category.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/putin-s-millennial-fans-can-t-wait-russian-election-n833406

Looks like Putin will accomplish what the Thai military or US President Trump can't achieve, elected presidency with majority backing of the population.

[simple1]

7 hours ago, FreddieRoyle said:

<snip> Bashar Al Assad is a legend one of the last strongmen like Hussein, Gadaffi, that kept the evil ideologies pervasive in their countries in check

LOl - usual misinformation & BS...

 

Assad assisted Islamists to enter Iraq to attack US forces in Iraq. Plus...

 

http://www.newsweek.com/how-syrias-assad-helped-forge-isis-255631

 

[Jingthing]

33 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

Putin's approval rating has not fallen below 80% since March 2014.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/08/dubious-polls-media-vladimir-putin-election-popularity-propaganda

A recent poll [Jan. 2018] carried out by the Levada Center, Russia’s only major independent pollster, shows 86% of respondents aged 18 to 24 approved of Putin’s actions as president. He enjoys the same approval rating in the 25- to 39-year-old category.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/putin-s-millennial-fans-can-t-wait-russian-election-n833406

Looks like Putin will accomplish what the Thai military or US President Trump can't achieve, elected presidency with majority backing of the population.

Careful, now.

I think there is good evidence he really is popular.

But elected?

By a sham "election" where any serious opponents were murdered, forced in exile, or legally disqualified on trumped up charges.

Nyet. Nyet. Nyet.

That's not an election. That's a show. 

[Krataiboy]

France, the United States and Britain circulated a draft resolution to U.N. Security Council late on Saturday that aims to establish a new independent inquiry into who is to responsible for chemical weapons attacks in Syria

 

Better late. . . 

5 hours ago, davidcc said:

We can all comment with bravado and macho war calls from the safety of our computers but if (and I hope it never does) this spills into our countries, I wonder how many of us will support it then. When instead of seeing bombs going off on television like some Hollywood movie, it is our families blown to pieces, our streets and our lives wrecked by such irresponsible foreign policy. It is not about which political side you believe in, as it is obvious, all sides of the political divide have been irresponsibly bombing foreign countries under their watch. Both in Europe and USA. This is an agenda that has no political side. People who have never been to war or experienced it, should never be in a position of power to send others. This has nothing to do with supposed chemical attacks, which I have severe doubts about anyway, as history tells us we can not believe much we hear on BBC or CNN, certainly can not believe much of what is written in the newspapers and would be naive to believe a lot of politicians based on their track records. This has everything to do with pipelines, paranoia and a desire to control the world and suffocate Russia. Did our countries help the people of Rwandan when approximately 1 million men, women, children and babies were butchered. No, we did nothing and let it happen. So if anyone thinks they are bombing Syria in response to supposed chemical attacks, think again. What amazes me is the seemingly apathetic reaction from so many, who are still in TV land and just don't see what is really going on. This is madness and this sort of madness has been seen before in history and look at the results. Millions dead. Albeit in certain parts of history it was sadly required as our countries were being attacked. But we are not being attacked.  I do not believe Syria is a threat. Assad like so many of these leaders was a friend to the West until they decided they did not want him anymore. Russia has very little history of wanting to dominate the world. Whereas sadly us Westerners have. We live in a cotton wool protected environment with no memory of war, (depending on age) other than what we see on TV. Any sane intelligent human being would completely condemn what our leaders are doing. From my understanding the rebels our politicians support, are basically violent terrorists, who have committed terrible atrocities. Who created them and armed them ? Was it the same maniacs who armed Al Qaeda ?  I am not in any way taking sides but just expressing common sense and what is obvious. I for one hope there is a complete deescalation of arms. I hope for all of us and our families sake's our leaders listen to what Putin is saying. I am no fan of his, but he is right. It could throw the world into chaos and for what ?

Bravo! A voice in the wilderness that deserves a far wider audience and needs to ring throughout the corridors of global power.

 

There are countless millions of us "sheeple" (that is what the ruling elite contemptuously calls us behind our backs) who feel exactly the same way, yet whose voices are drowned out by raucous self-interested politicians, their corporate cohorts and their servile mass media collaborators.

 

I am a father of five. In the past the question every concerned parent used to ask himself or herself was, "What kind of world will we leave to our children?" Now the question is not what kind of world but whether there will be any world to leave them.

 

This not only unthinkable but unallowable.

 

If ever there was a time to start a world-wide peace movement, with massive public demonstrations of the kind that helped shorten the Vietnam War and end nearly 30 years of bloody sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, this is it.

 

If no an existing political party is willing to advance such an agenda - arguably the most just and desirable in human history - then a new international People's Party is needed to represent the silent majority of the sane.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Krataiboy

[selftaopath]

5 hours ago, Ulic said:

Bashar Al Assad was no different for Syria than the Saudi royal family is for Saudi Arabia.

The only difference is Assad is aligned with Russia and Russia has it's only foreign naval

base in Syria. Obama armed the Assad opposition hoping for a new regime that would close

that base. This brought civil war to Syria and has led to 500,000 deaths and a refugee crisis

across Europe. While western news organizations put all the deaths at the hands of Assad

both sides are equally guilty of war crimes. Brexit, the refugee crisis and all the deaths in Syria

are on the hands of Obama as much as Assad. Maybe even more. The only thing I know is

neither side can be trusted with the truth. Both lie and spin the news. Iraq, Libya, Ukraine, Syria,

will the US ever learn. Let the middle east sort out there own internal conflicts. Let Iran and

Saidi Arabia have at it. War is miserable. A little taste between these two countries instead

of proxy wars, (Russia-USA in Syria, Iran-Saudi Arabia in Yemen, things ramping up in Qutar)

I shake my head. 

As I recall the Syrian people asked the murdering dictator for a few liberties. He promised change for years but did nothing. Then when Syrans protested he killed them.... starting the rebellion. Right?

[dunroaming]

All I have at the moment is questions.  Did the driving force for the attacks come from Trump?  If not then would Britain and the French have gone ahead anyway?  Why did May not recall parliament for a debate and vote before triggering Britain's attack?  Has Britain learned nothing from the Iraq mess when Blair was PM? Does this show her being weak or strong?  How much has the Salisbury incident affected May's response?

 

Is the Russian retaliation going to be in the form of cyber warfare?   If so will Britain retaliate in kind?  Same goes for the USA?  Finally (for now), is this whole thing about Russia baiting the west and the west responding in the most predictable way?

[selftaopath]

1 hour ago, Srikcir said:

Putin's approval rating has not fallen below 80% since March 2014.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/08/dubious-polls-media-vladimir-putin-election-popularity-propaganda

A recent poll [Jan. 2018] carried out by the Levada Center, Russia’s only major independent pollster, shows 86% of respondents aged 18 to 24 approved of Putin’s actions as president. He enjoys the same approval rating in the 25- to 39-year-old category.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/putin-s-millennial-fans-can-t-wait-russian-election-n833406

Looks like Putin will accomplish what the Thai military or US President Trump can't achieve, elected presidency with majority backing of the population.

I wonder if the message to Russians is: Back Putin or else.....hell PussyRiot got jailed for protesting eh? Oh and then there's the bullets flying - dead opposition party leader, and don't forget poison..... Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.