| But many think it was because he meddled in politics and posed a threat to President Putin. |
| Putin has the opportunity to put an end to a number of Russian oligarchs, or at least to radically diminish their pernicious political role. |
| He also implied the Russian Government of Vladimir Putin should now capitulate to Chechen demands for independence. |
| Rather, he manoeuvred and tried to reconcile his loyalty towards Putin with his support for the oligarchs. |
| Jacques Chirac, Gerhard Shroeder and Vlad Putin were yukking it up at the G8 conference with jokes to one another about British cuisine. |
| On the one hand, Putin sought to re-evaluate the international status of the Kremlin through a strengthening of the Berlin-Moscow axis. |
