Putin spokesman: Obama’s wrong in criticism of Russian premier, meeting should change his mind

September 16th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin handed over a 5000 dollar Swiss watch to a weapons manufacturing factory worker in Tula. According to The Telegraph, the metalworker put Putin in a spot after he gave a speech on the economy in the town of Tula.

September 11th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Friday that he and President Dmitry Medvedev would come to an agreement before the 2012 presidential polls and would not compete with each other. "There will be no competition.

July 11th, 2009 BAKU/MOSCOW - In the row over the US missile defence project in central Europe, the US is again considering a proposal by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to use a radar facility in Azerbaijan, Russian media reported Saturday. US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg held talks on the issue days after a meeting between Putin and US President Barack Obama, the Interfax news agency reported.

July 10th, 2009 Russian channel cuts Putin scene on 'South Park'MOSCOW — A Russian TV channel cut a segment of the ribald U.S. cartoon comedy "South Park" that appeared to mock Vladimir Putin, a spokesman said Friday.

July 7th, 2009 MOSCOW - US President Barack Obama began his first meeting with Vladimir Putin Tuesday morning at the Russian prime minister's country residence outside Moscow. Obama, on his first visit to Russia since becoming president, held extensive talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Monday, resulting in a framework agreement for a new strategic arms reduction treaty.

July 7th, 2009 Putin says Obama meeting went wellMOSCOW — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says his first meeting with President Barack Obama went "very well." The former Russian president called the two-hour meeting "substantive, informative and collaborative." Putin told reporters he and Obama "covered the issues from previous years" and found "many positives" and "many points in common." Obama also had good things to say about their meeting Tuesday, and said he found Putin's views similar to those of Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev. Before heading to Russia, Obama had described Putin as still having a confrontational Cold War mentality, while the younger Medvedev seemed to understand that it was time for a new approach to U.S.-Russia relations.

July 7th, 2009 Official: Obama, Putin established 'good relation'MOSCOW — A White House official says President Barack Obama and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin "formed the basis of a good relation" during a two-hour meeting at Putin's residence outside Moscow. Before heading to Russia last week, Obama told the Associated Press in an interview that Putin "has one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new." But after meeting the Russian leader, a senior administration official described Obama's reaction this way: "I would say he's very convinced that the prime minister is a man of today and he's got his eyes firmly on the future." The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the private details of the meeting, said Obama and Putin shared concerns about terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

July 6th, 2009 Obama trusts Medvedev to follow throughMOSCOW — President Barack Obama says he trusts Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (dih-MEE'-tree med-VYEH'-dyev) to follow through on the agreements the two leaders have announced at their summit in Moscow. The agreements include a preliminary deal to reduce both nations' stockpiles of nuclear warheads.

July 3rd, 2009 Putin responds to Obama's criticismMOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says the U.S. president is wrong to suggest he remains mired in a Cold War mindset.

July 2nd, 2009 Obama says Putin lives partly in pastWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is describing Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as someone who still has "one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new." He says one reason he's meeting with Putin — as well as with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (dih-MEE'-tree med-VYEH'-dyev) — during his upcoming visit to Moscow is that he wants Putin to know that "the old Cold War approaches" to relations with the United States are "outdated." Obama says Putin "still has sway" in Russia. He also says the U.S.

June 10th, 2009 Russia might abandon nukes if other countries doMOSCOW — Russian news agencies are quoting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as saying that Russia is willing to abandon nuclear weapons if the United States and all other countries that have them do the same. State-owned RIA Novosti quotes Putin as saying that, "if those who made the atomic bomb and used it are ready to abandon it — like, I hope, other nuclear powers — of course we will welcome and facilitate this process in all ways." Interfax and RIA Novosti reported that Putin made the comments during a meeting Wednesday with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

May 27th, 2009 MOSCOW - Employers wanting to know when and how to retain or fire their employees, should contact Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Turning his hand to writing, Putin's first ever column for a Russian media outlet will be published on Friday, entitled "Why it's hard to fire people".

May 11th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has hinted that he wants to comeback as president of the country in 2012. Putin said there was no decision as yet on whether he or his close ally Dmitry Medevedev, the current president, would run for office when Medvedev's four-year-stint in the job expires.

January 27th, 2009 DAVOS - The World Economic Forum (WEF) opened in Davos Wednesday with an aim to address the current economic crisis and other global challenges. The five-day annual meeting is expected to attract more than 2,500 representatives from 96 countries, including a record 43 heads of state or government and 1,400 business leaders, organisers said.

January 17th, 2009 MOSCOW - Gas supplies from Russia to Europe through Ukraine may resume soon, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Sunday after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko. Russian news agencies said that a deal had been reached between the two sides.