Ex-partner of Russian oligarch close to Putin said life in Russia was like 'The Godfather' and there

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

was a 'lack of normal human morals'

Alexandra Tolstoy, the former partner of Russian oligarch Sergei Pugachev, said living in Russian President Vladimir Putin's world was like "The Godfather."

"It was sort of like everything you probably imagine, as someone earlier said, like 'The Godfather,'" Tolstoy told Erin Burnett on CNN Thursday.

"This crazy insane wealth, and also a complete lack of sort of normal, human morals," Tolstoy said of living in Putin's Russia for eight years with Pugachev.

She added that Putin's top aides all "hate each other" and that their government is "ruthless."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ex-partner-russian-oligarch-close-151250730.html

[L. Coyote]

1. In a 10,500 Italian designer coat, a limping Vladimir Putin tries to rally his people

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/03/18/russian-tv-cuts-vladimir-putin-mid-speech-major-moscow-rally/

.... Vladimir Putin, wearing an Italian designer coat modestly priced at £10,500 and a white roll neck sweater costing £3,200, was drumming up support for his “special military operation” in Ukraine.

The Russian president was dressed more like an investment fund manager on the slopes of Gstaad than the increasingly raving mad despot he has become after almost a quarter of a century in power. One Russian commentator suggested that his tub-thumping speech was akin to “Billy Graham meets North Korea”. ........

..... Not that the event went without a hitch. Putin was mid-sentence - "it so happened that the beginning of the operation coincided by chance with the birthday of one of our outstanding military..." - when the state television feed cut out to be replaced by a pre-recorded clip of a band playing patriotic music.

Had the president collapsed? Or had there been a coup? Alas, the fault lay with a technical broadcasting issue. ......... the state broadcaster might have been hacked and the transmission disrupted. ................

Link to tweet

[dgauss]

3. "Billy Graham meets North Korea." Good description, scary thought.

[yardwork]

6. That crap he's wearing cost $15,000? He got robbed.

[L. Coyote]

9. George Conway🌻 meanwhile, his soldiers are begging Ukrainian villagers for food northeast of Kyiv

[Samrob]

11. It's probably bullet proof. nt

[UTUSN]

2. There's no bottom to this including Drumpf

[brooklynite]

4. Wine and pasta?

[brooklynite]

5. Bearing in mind that Don Corleone bought his own fruit at the market.

[L. Coyote]

7. On a trip to my old Amazon village we were stopped by the military and inspected, of course

the corrupt soldiers had to steal some of the oranges people in the truck I'd hitchhiked were transporting. We all had to show our papers and headed on, but before I departed i had a chat with the commanding officer. I told him about the theft and advised him not to eat stolen fruit, it would sure be an easy way for the guerrillas to kill off his soldiers. The look on his face was priceless. When I returned on the same road, he addressed me by name.

[ZonkerHarris]

10. great anecdote.

[fierywoman]

8. Oh look! HIS audience wears red hats too!