Vladimir Putin
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FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 17, 2014 file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with Olympic volunteers in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia. Putin said gays should feel welcome at the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, but they must "leave the children in peace." Putin told volunteers Friday that gays visiting Sochi "can feel calm and at ease," and vowed that there would be no discrimination at the games. But he emphasized that, according to a law banning homosexual "propaganda" among minors, gays cannot express their views on gay rights issues to anyone underage. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Presidential Press Service, Alexei Nikolsky)

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Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with officials focusing on economy in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Mikhail Metzel, Presidential Press Service)

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** FILE ** In this Friday, Jan. 17, 2014, file photo Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to a translation during an interview to Russian and foreign media in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Presidential Press Service, File)

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FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 6, 2013 file photo Russian President Vladimir Putin smiles while ceremonially lighting the Olympic flame with a torch at Moscow's Red Square prior to the 123-day torch relay to Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. 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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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)