'Tsar' Putin tells the West: Russia will talk only on equal terms

Russian President Vladimir Putin walks before his inauguration ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia May 7, 2024. Sputnik/Sergei Savostyanov/Pool via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin, honoured like a Russian tsar at his swearing-in for a new six-year presidential term, had a double-edged message for the West: the Kremlin is ready to talk but Russia is girding for victory in Ukraine.

Putin, who rose to the top of the Kremlin just eight years after the fall of the Soviet Union, will overtake Josef Stalin and become Russia's longest-serving ruler since Empress Catherine the Great if he completes the term.