By Jose Antonio Vera

St. Petersburg, Jun 20 (EFE).– Many say, perhaps rightly, that Vladimir Putin is as cold as ice, but it’s also certain that on occasions the president of Russia can be much less frigid than he appears. He can put on an almost permanent smile and actually laughs at times.

He also gesticulates non-stop and raises the index finger of his right hand when speaking of sensitive subjects like Ukraine or the West’s sanctions against his country. All that without hesitation while answering any question on any subject in a perfectly articulated manner.

Putin acts very much like what he once was, a spy for the USSR. In the KGB he learned a series of rules that he continues to apply minutely. He speaks foreign languages without accent, looks you straight in the eye and copies fairly well your gestures and those of any other person with whom he converses, a miming technique taught by the old Soviet intelligence agency, whose purpose is to empathize with the person he is talking to, so that in the end the Russian president, with all his impenetrable robotic coldness, appears warmer and closer than he is, despite his natural inscrutability, despite a tendency to walk with his fists clenched, despite his evident power of self-control and indifference.

So that when you ask him something he looks you unwaveringly in the eye and can always sketch a half-smile, as if wishing to look pleasant and agreeable, something he actually manages to achieve. He also stays clear of extreme ideas and harsh expressions, undoubtedly to seem more moderate that what people generally believe of him.

Putin received us, the presidents of the 12 most important news agencies in the world, for the second straight year, this time in the magnificent presidential library of the imperial city of St. Petersburg, nowadays full of light and color. The truth is that Vladimir Vladimirovich acts like a true emperor. Palaces, entourage, altogether a big production…An emperor of an age impossible to guess, smooth skin without a wrinkle, blond hair with a touch of grey, and the athletic mien of a master of martial arts.

He greeted us at 1 a.m. and we spoke with him for an hour, and if last year the star dish of our luncheon was “tongue of Crimea,” this year we had cold tea and caviar from the Caspian Sea.

Putin gave elaborate answers to our questions, many of them implying his responsibility for the current tension with the West. As one might have guessed, has said he was not the guilty party but rather the victim, because it was others who, first, caused the conflict over gas, and then the crisis in Crimea, and later, the war in East Ukraine, and now the flights of Russian fighters over European air space, and of course, nuclear escalation.

He says it clearly: he doesn’t attack, he only responds to defend his country. He responds to the United States stationing heavy armaments in the Baltic nations and Poland. He responds to the “coup d’etat approach” of the Ukrainian government. He responds to the West’s support for the activities of human rights groups in Russia. And he responds to the “unjust” sanctions that are making life so hard for his people.

He said he will respond to anything he considers aggression against Russia. If necessary, this will include new warheads on intercontinental ballistic missiles. Or boosting production of military arms in his country. But never going ahead and attacking NATO, something he called “ridiculous and impossible.”

And after the well-known negotiations, there are no Russian troops in Ukraine. Russia has no bases in other countries, unlike the United States. And Russia is not expanding anywhere “as NATO is doing.”

Putin said his country only wants to live decently and prosper economically. Something that, he said, he will achieve. Despite the sanctions, the economy will recover in two years, halting the increase in inflation, strengthening the value of the ruble, increasing childbirth, diminishing mortality, and with oil production going full speed ahead. His view of the future is very much at odds with those who speak of “an economy about to collapse,” “double-digit inflation,” a permanent “devaluation of the ruble,” and an incessant “flight of capital.”

He does have one conviction: there’s not much difference between Russians and Ukrainians. He did not express any territorial ambitions with regard to Ukraine, but he does consider it a duty to protect all its Russian-speaking citizens and the communities “that did not accept Poroshenko’s coup d’etat.”

With this almost messianic “mandate” on his mind, he saw us off at 1:30 a.m. after an exhausting day of activities, during which he met with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, presided over the St. Petersburg Forum and was constantly on television. All of which was no more than usual. EFE