Vladimir Putin inaugurated as Russian president
Vladimir Putin began his fifth term on Tuesday as Russian leader at a glittering Kremlin inauguration, setting out on another six years in office. Already in office for nearly a quarter-century, and the longest-serving Kremlin leader since Josef Stalin, Putin’s new term doesn’t expire until 2030, when he will be constitutionally eligible to run again. At the ceremony inside the gilded Grand Kremlin Palace, Putin placed his hand on the Russian Constitution and vowed to defend it as a crowd of hand-picked dignitaries looked on. At 71, Putin dominates the domestic political landscape.  On the international stage, he is locked in a confrontation with Western countries he accuses of using Ukraine as a vehicle to try to defeat and dismember Russia. Putin in March won a landslide victory in a tightly controlled election from which two anti-war candidates were barred on technical grounds. His best known opponent, Alexei Navalny, died suddenly in an Arctic penal colony a month earlier, and other leading critics are in jail or have been forced to flee abroad. Putin first became Russian leader in late 1999, when he succeeded Boris Yeltsin as president. (Agencies)