Russia’s Putin sworn in as president, as US, most EU nations miss inauguration over Ukraine war
- Putin won a landslide victory in a presidential election in March, more than two years after he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine
- Some Western governments said his re-election was flawed because voters were not given a real alternative, a charge rejected by Moscow
President Vladimir Putin was sworn in for a new six-year term on Tuesday at a Kremlin ceremony that was boycotted by the United States and other Western countries, at which he said he was potentially open to nuclear talks with the West.
Putin, in power as president or prime minister since 1999, begins his new mandate more than two years after he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, where Russian forces have regained the initiative after a series of reversals and are seeking to advance further in the east.
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 told Russia’s political elite after being sworn in that he was not shutting down dialogue with the West, but that it would have to make its own choice about how to engage with his country.
He said talks on strategic nuclear stability with the West were also possible, but only on equal terms.
“We are a united and great people, and together we will overcome all obstacles, we will bring to life everything we have planned. Together we will be victorious,” Putin said.
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.