Putin’s long, long walk to his inauguration

RUSSIA: Russian President Vladimir Putin took a long walk to his inauguration and another six years in power at the Kremlin.

The footage of his presidential march originally ran longer than five minutes, so we’ve sped it up for you.

It starts with Putin sitting at his desk before he gets a call which sets the very, very long walk in motion.

Putin strides through the corridors of what appears to be his office, at one point appears to look at his reflection and then walks on past a man who is saluting.

After leaving his office, Putin gets into a limousine and heads to the Grand Kremlin Palace… and then the walk continues.

He makes his way down a red carpet that could rival the Oscars, and is greeted with applause by a packed crowd before finally arriving at the stage. Footage of his inauguration journey raised a few eyebrows on social media.

Putin wh was sworn-in for another six years as Russian President, buoyed by popular support but weighed down too by a costly confrontation with the West, a fragile economy and uncertainty about what happens when his term ends.

Standing in the ornately-decorated Andreyevsky Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace, with his hand on a gold-embossed copy of the Constitution, Putin swore to serve the Russian people, to safeguard rights and freedoms, and protect Russian sovereignty.

Putin’s inauguration for a fourth term as Russian President came two months after more than 70 per cent of voters backed him in an election in which he had no serious challengers.

In a speech after the swearing-in ceremony, Putin said that in the next six years Russia would prove a strong, muscular player on the world stage, backed by a powerful military, while pushing hard to improve life for its citizens at home.

“Taking up this post, I feel a colossal sense of responsibility,” Putin told his audience of Russian officials and foreign dignitaries, among them former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

For the short journey from his office to the inauguration ceremony, Putin travelled in a new Russian-made limousine.

There is little clarity too about what happens after 2024. By then Putin will be 71.

He will soon have ruled longer than Soviet Communist leader Leonid Brezhnev, whose 18-year rule from 1964 to 1982 is primarily associated with stagnation.

Likely options include Putin leaving the Kremlin but continuing to run the country from another post, or bowing out of public life and handing over to an anointed successor.

Meanwhile, Russia’s big Victory Day Parade on Wednesday will feature a remote-controlled tank and other new weapons systems combat-tested in Syria.

The Uran-9 tank is armed with anti-tank rockets, a cannon and a machine-gun.

President Vladimir Putin restored the Soviet-era tradition of parading the latest armour and missiles on 9 May.

It is the day Russians honour the millions who died fighting Nazi Germany. New infantry buggies, drones and an anti-ship missile will also go on show.

Russia’s Gazeta.ru news reports (in Russian) that the Uran-9 and a “robot sapper” - a mine-clearing vehicle - called Uran-6 have both performed well for Russian forces fighting in Syria.

Russia has deployed special forces and a big array of warplanes to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against various rebel groups, including Islamic State (IS). - ABC NEWS

The Russian President’s long march went through corridors, in a limousine, across cobblestones and down a red carpet.