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Call Me Russian FDR: Putin

Presenting himself as popular US prez to stay in power

By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 19, 2007 3:43 AM CDT

(Newser) – Vladimir Putin sees himself as Russia's Franklin Delano Roosevelt and is actively encouraging a cult around the Depression-slaying US leader to promote his own ambitions after his current term as president expires. Admiring profiles and documentaries about Roosevelt in the state-controlled media are indoctrinating Russians as Putin maneuvers to stay in power, reports the Washington Post.

Roosevelt, who died in his fourth term, is portrayed in Russia as a heroic figure who battled America's power elite. "Of course it's about the third term, and a fourth, and sure it's organized from the Kremlin," said a Russian political analyst. "Roosevelt is now very popular in Russia."

A shop assistant passes a display of TV sets during a question-and-answer call-in session with Russian President Vladimir Putin in one of Moscow shops on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007. President Vladimir Putin, in his latest jab at Washington, suggested Thursday that the U.S. military campaign in Iraq was a...
A shop assistant passes a display of TV sets during a question-and-answer call-in session with Russian President Vladimir Putin in one of Moscow shops on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007. President Vladimir Putin,...   (Associated Press)
President Vladimir Putin listens to a question in Moscow's Kremlin, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007. President Vladimir Putin extolled Russia's strong economic growth and improving demographics but warned that inflation might top 8 percent this year, as the Russian leader began fielding dozens of questions during his annual televised question-and-answer session....
President Vladimir Putin listens to a question in Moscow's Kremlin, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007. President Vladimir Putin extolled Russia's strong economic growth and improving demographics but warned that...   (Associated Press)
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