Vladimir Putin looks like the famous gangster from the movie “Scarface” on the cover of the latest edition of the magazine The Economist. The Russian president is due to take part in negotiations on the situation on the Ukrainian border with the United States and NATO. These promise to be tense.
Slumped in an armchair similar to a throne adorned with gold, dressed in a long-necked costume in the purest disco style, an assault rifle on his knees… British weekly The Economist figure Vladimir Poutine in Tony Montana, alias “Scarface”, in one of his edition dated January 8.
The Russian president is due to embark on a series of diplomatic summits from January 10, first with the United States, then NATO and finally during the meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE).
The title of the British weekly, “M. Putin will receive you ”, sounds suggests that the Kremlin leader approaches these meetings with a knife between his teeth.
“It is usually a bad sign when one of the two sides brandishes a weapon when entering into talks. And that may be the case next week when Russian diplomats meet their North American and European counterparts, with the 100 000 soldiers ready to invade Ukraine ”.
“Exorbitant claims”
The situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border raises fears of an escalation of tensions which could lead to an invasion of the former Soviet republic, already in the grip of unrest in the Donbass, warns the magazine.
For his part, Vladimir Putin claims to want to ensure the security of his own country but “A good number of [ses] demands are so exorbitant, and so damaging to the security of Europe, that in reality it is perhaps only an ultimatum destined to be rejected ”. The Russian president calls in particular for a commitment not to expand the Atlantic Alliance – in particular to Ukraine and Georgia – and a limitation of the presence of American weapons on European soil.
For the weekly, the lack of concession in the European camp “[fournirait] a pretext for a new invasion of Ukraine ”. “If Putin is truly determined to go to war, he will”, he concludes.
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Great institution of the British press, The Economist, founded in 1843 by a Scottish hatter, is the bible for anyone interested in international news. Openly liberal, he generally defends free trade,
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