Tag Archives: Putin

Putin arrives in Italy to meet the Pope as Italian media claim he will make Berlusconi Russian ambassador to Vatican, giving him diplomatic immunity

Posted on by
Reply

վլադիմիր պուտին,սիլվիո բերլուսկոնիRussian president Vladimir Putin will meet the Pope today – amid claims he is planning to name scandal-mired Silvio Berlusconi as Russia’s ambassador to the Vatican.

Mr Putin will hold private talks with Pope Francis about the Syrian conflict, months after the Pope sent him an angry letter criticising the G20’s failure to provide more aid.

Now it has been claimed Mr Putin is set to grant Berlusconi diplomatic immunity – despite him being convicted of sex with an underage prostitute and facing another trial over bribery claims.

It would hand Berlusconi several privileges including a right to travel – something his numerous convictions have forced him to give up.

The former Italian premier and Putin, both highly controversial figures in world politics, are close friends and regularly defend each other against criticism.
In September the Pope wrote directly to Putin imploring him to co-operate with other international leaders to help the people of Syria.

 

Putin: Gays, lesbians welcome in Sochi for Olympics

Posted on by
Reply

putin-olympic

 

Russian President Vladmir Putin says everyone will be welcomed to next year’s Winter Olympics in Russia, regardless of sexual orientation — comments that come on the heels of a controversial Russian law on homosexuality.

Putin made his latest assurances on the matter on Monday as he welcomed International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and other sports officials to his summer residence in Sochi — the Black Sea resort town where the Games will happen in February — state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Putin also said in an interview on state television in September that gay people would not be discriminated against at the Sochi Games. But that appeared at odds with statements made by government officials that the anti-gay propaganda law would be enforced.

The IOC in August said it received assurances “from the highest level of government in Russia” that the law would not affect people attending or taking part in the Games. The next month, the IOC said the law did not violate the Olympic Charter

In August, U.S. President Barack Obama rejected calls for his country to boycott the Games, saying such a move would hurt American athletes who trained and sacrificed to qualify.

 

Putin: Foreign Nations Try to Destabilize Caucasus

Posted on by
Reply

putinPresident Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian security agencies to act more harshly to fend off foreign attempts to destabilize the restive North Caucasus region ahead of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

Addressing Monday’s meeting of the presidential Security Council, Putin said unspecified “foreign countries and public and international organizations under their control keep seeing the North Caucasus as a foothold for destabilizing Russia as a whole.”

Putin added that “neutralizing the terrorist and criminal threats is particularly important in connection with the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.”

The North Caucasus region has been engulfed by an Islamist insurgency following two separatist wars in Chechnya.

 

Russia’s Putin Signs Law Limiting Adoption by Gays

Posted on by
Reply

Vladimir PutinPresident Vladimir Putin has signed a bill that sharply limits the adoption of Russian children by people from countries that allow same-sex marriage.

The new law prohibits adoption by same-sex foreign couples whose homeland recognizes their union as marriage, as well as by single people or unmarried couples from those countries.

A Kremlin statement said the measure is intended to guarantee children a “harmonious” upbringing and protect them from “complexes, emotional suffering and stress.”

The bill signed Wednesday is the latest move by Russia to buck the Western trend toward greater acceptance of homosexuality. On Sunday, Putin approved a ban on giving children any information about gays.

The adoption bill further shrinks the possibilities for 600,000 Russian children without parental custody. Last year, Russia banned all adoptions by Americans.