Battling time and protests, Putin turns 60
RUSSIA: Russian President Vladimir Putin hits retirement age on
Sunday but he appears determined to prove that 60 is the new 40.
In power since 1999 first as prime minister, then president, then
prime minister and now president again, Putin has over the past decade
sidelined opponents and in May triumphantly returned to the Kremlin for
a historic third term.
As he turns 60, he may be going into the most important battle of his
lifetime: the one against time itself.
Faced with the growing opposition movement against his rule, the
Russian strongman has refused to step down and never ruled out running
for another six-year Kremlin term in 2018. In what critics say is a bid
to prove he's a man in his prime, Putin has over the past few years
staged a series of age-defying stunts.
He dived to the bottom of Lake Baikal aboard a submarine, flew a
fighter jet, drove a Formula One car, rode a bobsled, paraded a
well-toned chest on a holiday in Siberia and most recently took to the
controls of a hang-glider to fly with cranes in Siberia.
AFP |
