Opinion: What Vladimir Putin said … and what he meant

By Jill Dougherty (original source CNN)

“It was the kind of challenge Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to relish: downplaying his own weakness, exploiting his opponents’ vulnerabilities, and deftly turning the tables by throwing in a few barbed jokes.

As he stood at the podium at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, news broke that the European Union was extending economic sanctions on Crimea, the Ukrainian region Russia annexed in 2014, and would soon extend overall sanctions on Moscow.”

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