His critics say he has led his country into an autocratic cul-de-sac, but his fans point to the stability he brought after Yeltsin and the way he stood up to the westDays before he was elected to the Russian presidency in 2000, Vladimir Putin told the BBC that Russia was “part of European culture” and that he “would not rule out” the possibility of it joining Nato.“I cannot imagine my own country in isolation from Europe and what we often call the civilised world,” said Putin, who was still acting president after Boris Yeltsin’s sudden resignation on New Year’s Eve …read more
Source: The Guardian
