Putin – World Tour 2004

Putin has been racking up the airmiles this last few weeks.  By my count, he’s been to:

• Ukraine – where he endorsed Yanukovich as his choice for Governor President
• Chile – were he announced details about the first Chilean Cosmonaut.
• Brazil – where he tried to sell some airplanes.
• India – where he supported Indian claims to a permanent veto-wielding seat on the UN Security Council
• Turkey – where he pleased by an "independent foreign policy"

In between times, he’s also managed to pop back to Moscow to entertain a few select world leaders:

• Ukraine’s President Kuchma – who went home with support for his handling of Ukraine’s botched election
• Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez – who went home with a bundle of MiGs and a "strategic alliance" with Russia.
• Iraq’s Prime Minister Iyad Allawi – who went home with $8bn of written off loans and the bad news that he was wasting his time with the January elections.

Phew.  Hope I didn’t miss anything.