Vladimir Putin was inaugurated as Russia’s president for another six-year term in lavish style at the Kremlin after sidelining or eliminating his rivals, and is now focused squarely on the war in Ukraine—and the alliances he needs to secure a victory.
Since the invasion two years ago, Putin has nurtured close relationships with a host of countries who share his wariness of the U.S. and the West. Iran has provided missiles and drones. North Korea has sent ammunition and other weapons. In Africa, Putin’s efforts to cast himself as a defender of traditional religious values have won him admirers across a slice of nations that used to look to the West, while the Russian leader’s media handlers played up the positive response he received during a tour to the Middle East in December, where he tried to drive a wedge between Arab nations and the U.S. over the war in Gaza.
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