“Who if not Putin?”: NATO estimates Russian leader

NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Philip Breedlove paid the Russian leader a compliment. "We are unsure that we would be in a better place if Mr. Putin was not there. He may be a more reasonable voice in the middle of that group... We have a very strong leader who is surrounded by a small group of people who make the decisions. And we're not sure that we might be in a better place if we saw a change," Breedlove claimed.
NATO Commander believes the group which is being headed by Putin, firmly keeps the nation's mood under control. And it will be continued for some time.
According to Breedlove, today it is important for Russia in its foreign policy to be looked at as an equal one at the global stage.
And Moscow manages to achieve it. As Breedlove said, our country corrected deficiencies that had undermined combat readiness of the Russian army during a military conflict with Georgia in 2008.
However, Breedlove believes that Russia shouldn't be praised that much.
"We need to be careful not paint them as 10 feet tall because they're not, and if we overstate, then we lose credibility. But I've also said they may not be 10 feet tall but they're pretty close to 7 feet tall," Breedlove noted.

Pravda.Ru