Vladimir Putin
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FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013 file photo Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the Rosa Khutor Alpine Center outside the Black Sea resort of Sochi, southern Russia. For President Vladimir Putin, the Winter Olympics he brought to Sochi have always been about far more than sports. The benefits he sees from holding the games range from improving Russia’s international standing and instilling a sense of national pride to turning around the country’s demographic decline. And of course Putin wants to be seen, at home and abroad, as the man who made this all possible. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)

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side by side: Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill I has echoed President Vladimir Putin's view that Western countries are engaging in a "spiritual disarmament" of their people. (Associated Press)