President Vladimir Putin’s handlers had thought of nearly everything for the christening of a $4 billion bridge linking Russia to Crimea. The imagery was deliberate: Putin was sealing his disputed 2014 annexation of Crimea with a project strongly condemned as illegal by the West. Not by saboteurs or protesters or a stage-stealing, fate-sealing politician – but by the orange-and-white cat that roamed the bridge the day before. At the bridge, Putin signed autographs, shook hands with workers and offered remarks, as, in another odd moment, a saxophone-heavy rendition of the “Rocky” theme song blared from the speakers. The bridge project began a year after the annexation and was built without consent from Kiev.

Source: National Post May 17, 2018 12:45 UTC