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

[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