Putin used the post-Soviet era to gorge himself on his nation’s oil wealth

Sea monster

FOR decades Russia has been ruled by murderous gangsters and thieves. How else could Putin come to own the world’s priciest yacht?

He has used the post-Soviet era to gorge himself on his nation’s oil and gas wealth, even more greedily than the oligarchs who suck up to him.

AFP

For decades Russia has been ruled by murderous gangsters and thieves[/caption]

Bizarrely, most Russians don’t seem to mind, any more than they do his deranged war. Not yet, anyway.

Of course the Scheherazade isn’t in Putin’s name. There’s a shell company on the paperwork, the same sort of legal ruse keeping his pal Alisher Usmanov’s UK mansions out of Britain’s grasp.

But it is a monstrous floating palace, fit for a monster. A judo-loving monster.

Italy should seize it without delay and fill it with refugees.

Or sell it and hand the cash to Ukrainian charities. If neither is possible, blow it to smithereens.

Putin can hardly complain.

Burst bubble

INSIDE the bubble of Boris-hating Remainiac malcontents, Britain is derided 24/7. They say we’re a backwater who destroyed our own EU-based significance and now “have no credibility around the world”.

They’re welcome to their misery. But on Planet Earth the opposite is true.
We led the world on jabs and emerged first from Covid’s deadliest stages.

Alamy

International Trade chief Anne-Marie Trevelyan begins talks with Canada today to vastly improve our EU-era agreement[/caption]

Our efforts for Ukrainians have earned us a new place in their hearts. And although we have already signed or reaffirmed scores of trade deals since Brexit, bigger ones now look imminent.

International Trade chief Anne-Marie Trevelyan begins talks with Canada today to vastly improve our EU-era agreement. Israel, Mexico and the giants of India and the US are queuing up to do likewise.

Putin has unwittingly reminded democracies who their real friends are.

“The rest of the world thinks the UK is amazing and wants to work with a trusted partner,” says Mrs Trevelyan.

“We do ourselves down.”

Not quite true, Anne-Marie. “We” don’t.

Shame of Met

UNDER two dismal commissioners the Met Police was allowed to fester and rot.

The watchdog’s report into its efforts to eradicate corruption is shocking. Not least because those efforts barely exist.

We knew the London force’s vetting procedures were broken, given that it recruited Sarah Everard’s killer Wayne Couzens. We now know a staggering 350 staff have criminal convictions and are still not monitored effectively.

Hundreds of valuable crime exhibits are missing — and 2,000 warrant cards.

Even more depressingly the inspector finds no appetite among the “arrogant” top brass to learn from failings. What an indictment of Cressida Dick and Bernard Hogan-Howe before her.

Whoever takes over has a massive task. But they can hardly do worse.

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