"It is amazing how much power he packs in that small body," one Indian observer quips about the Russian leader. When he turned up shirtless on vacation last summer, Putin instantly became a gay icon, his abs provoking as much Internet chatter and newspaper comment as SRK's did in OSO. Both men are about the same height -- VP is 5 feet, 7 inches; SRK, IMDB.com claims, is an inch taller.

Perhaps because of his KGB heritage, Putin finds it difficult to smile. When I tried to make polite conversation at Rashtrapati Bhavan seven years ago, he merely nodded, expression-less. One of our leading foreign affairs reporters mentions how she tried to draw his attention at a lunch the prime minister hosted for him as the chief guest for this year's Republic Day parade. He heard her out patiently as she made her points in English, waited till the interpreter translated it for him (he understands English perfectly), then finally, nodded, expression-less.

At the Malachite Hall at the Kremlin, where three Indo-Russian agreements are signed, followed by a media conference, not once does he smile, not once does anything remotely resembling an expression appear on his face. He shakes hands with the three Russian officials who sign the treaties, always grim-faced.

Yet, it is to this complex, tough man that we owe the resurrection of the India-Russian relationship after the mishaps of the early 1990s, when both then Indian prime minister P V Narasimha Rao and then Russian president Boris Yeltsin almost threw away the most durable of international associations by their bizarre maneuvers and eagerness to be friends with the Americans. After he took charge of the Kremlin, Putin has personally ensured that the Russians restored and enhanced the relationship, treating India as an equal partner, especially in defence arrangements.

It was Putin who suggested summit-level meetings between the leaders of the two countries to keep the relationship on course. Eight such summits have been held on his watch -- the November 12 meeting being the last, since the Russian constitution mandates that he step down as president in May after two consecutive terms in office.

Will he amend the constitution after the parliamentary election on December 2, when his party, United Russia, is expected to win a huge majority, and stay on as president? Or will he became prime minister and let one of his trusted KGB buddies become president, so that he can still dominate Russian politics? Will he become the Father of the Nation, as some United Russia leaders want him to, taking on a Gandhi-like role, and influence events and issues? Or will he grow roses as his wife Lyudmila Putin reportedly told Gursharan Kaur, the prime minister's wife, in Moscow (see Ritu Sarin's report in The Indian Express?

Putin will be 55 when he gives up office, almost as young as Tony Blair was when he finally gave up the British prime ministership last June. Unlike most world leaders, Putin is hugely popular at home (unlike one of his predecessors, Mikhail Gorbachov, who was hugely popular internationally, but despised in Russia) and would easily win a third term if he was allowed to. But since that won't happen just yet, Russia must find a new role for him.

This former spy isn't going quietly into the night, just yet.

Image: Russian President Vladimir Putin at the History of Soviet Astranautics (Cosmonautics) in the city of Kaluga some 190 km south-west from Moscow. Photograph: Dmitry Astakhov/AFP/Getty Images

Also read: PM, Putin had secret, strategic discussions

Back

|

Next