Russia: Putin Shrugs Off Killing Plot
By Ria Novosti
Russian Prime Minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday more than one attempt on his life has been prevented in the past decade and that he is not afraid of such threats.
Russian state television said on Monday that Ukrainian security services had arrested two suspects in an alleged plot to kill Putin. Footage on Russia’s state-run Channel One showed both men admitting to the conspiracy.
“I’ve been living constantly with that since 1999. What can you do about it?” he said.
“If you’re always afraid, it would be impossible to live – let them [terrorists] be afraid of us.”
Attempts on his life have never interfered with his work, nor will they in the future, Putin continued.
“People in my position must learn to live with that,” he said.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier dismissed as “blasphemous” media reports that the alleged assassination attempt was a ploy to boost Putin’s popularity ahead of Sunday’s presidential polls, in which he is all but certain to reclaim the post he held between 2000 and 2008.
