...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...has ordered troops in central Russia on "full combat alert," the defence minister said on Saturday, a day after the Kremlin confirmed it was beefing up its military presence at the border with Ukraine.
"In accordance with his (Putin's) order, from 11:00 am Moscow time (0700 GMT) the troops of the central military district as well as formations and military units located on its territory have been put on full combat alert," Russian news agencies quoted Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying.