War Criminal Putin compares himself to Peter the Great.

[magicguido]

[rso]

1. Putin

I’m sure Peter the Great was a war criminal as well, that’s why Pooty wants to be like him.

[gladium et scutum]

2. Ivan the Terrible

would be a closer comparison

[Srkdqltr]

3. Well Peter the Great is dead. That's the comparison we want.

[Chainfire]

4. Of course he does. I see him a closer to Catherine than Peter.

[dalton99a]

5. Just die already, asshole

[Rhiannon12866]

6. Peter the Great may have been a czar and a despot, but he was also an inventor and a builder

I've visited his amazing and enormous residences, seen his automatic fountains and other inventions. He was responsible for bringing his country into the next century (1700s) - Putin has nothing in common with him except for the czar-wannabe and despot part.

Peter the Great's "Summer Palace," Petrodvorets

[TexasTowelie]

7. Peter the Great was also known for his role in building the Russian Navy

and his studies in Germany where he studied under the mathematician, Gottfried Leibniz. He modernized Russia in an attempt to emulate other European countries.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. Exactly. Having seen his residences as well as the amazing fountains on the grounds

He was decades ahead of his time as well as getting his country caught up with the rest of the world - and then some. And he was born in the 1600s!

The saddest thing though was that the Germans bombed the Winter Palace, though certainly not a military target, down to its foundation. It took them a lot of years, using original plans, to reconstruct everything. And these "residences" are enormous, not to mention all the architectural details, like tiled floors and intricate moldings. They are famous museums today, filled with artwork - that was removed and saved, but they couldn't protect the buildings...