Aging, allegedly ailing Vladimir Putin has been mocked over his puffy, strangely altered face after the fearful, paranoid Russian dictator made a rare public appearance in Moscow over the weekend. The swollen-cheeked 73-year-old despot was spotted at an unusually quiet Victory Day parade to mark the 81st anniversary of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is in a weaker position than at any previous point in the war in Ukraine, citing battlefield losses, mounting casualties and growing public dissatisfaction inside Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday voiced confidence of victory in Ukraine as he oversaw a military parade on Red Square commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II — a show that didn't include heavy weapons for the first time in nearly two decades.

The Russian leader is caught between an increasingly unpopular war and shifting global headwinds

Parade without armor: Russia’s Victory Day parade was scaled back, with Putin hinting the war could be ending, though rhetoric toward Europe remains aggressive. Economic headwinds: Falling oil production, a ballooning deficit, and downgraded growth ...

By Andrew Osborn MOSCOW, May 12 (Reuters) - The Kremlin has released a video of Vladimir Putin driving in Moscow and meeting an old school teacher in a hotel lobby, after Western media outlets cited a European intelligence report as saying the Russian president spent weeks holed up in bunkers.

Putin released footage of the ‘chance’ meeting just days after it was claimed he was hiding in underground bunkers, detached from civilian affairs, amid fears of assassination

A Kremlin-released video showing Vladimir Putin greeting his former teacher with flowers and driving her to the Kremlin sparked viral reactions, with supporters praising the gesture and critics calling it staged.