...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...has expressed his strong opposition to the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
) eastward, warning the US-led military alliance against unspecified consequences in case it seeks to forge closer ties with Ukraine and Georgia.
Addressing a meeting of Russian ambassadors and envoys in Moscow on Thursday, Putin said there was a need to rebuild trust in Europe, and that NATO's attempts concerning deployment of military contingents and infrastructure near Russia’s western frontiers were not acceptable.
"We will respond appropriately to such aggressive steps, which pose a direct threat to Russia," the Russian leader said.
He added, "Our colleagues, who are trying to aggravate the situation, seeking to include, among others, Ukraine and Georgia in the orbit of the alliance, should think about the possible consequences of such an irresponsible policy."
Putin said he had discussed the matter with his US counterpart Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
at a summit in the Finnish capital of Helsinki on Monday.