Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin is known for always being late to his meetings with other leaders. – It is a well-known ruler’s trick. It is a way for him to show his own superiority, his own status, but also to get the other person off balance, says Malcolm Dixelius, Russia expert. How late he is depends on who he is meeting. The person who has had to wait the longest for Putin is Germany’s former Chancellor Angela Merkel. She had to wait for a full four hours. – He had a very hard time finding some kind of advantage against her and then he made her wait for a very long time, says Dixelius. She “only” had to wait 14 minutes. Putin also brought a dog with him on another occasion when he was going to meet Angela Merkel, knowing that she is afraid of dogs. In this way he tried to gain an upper hand. But there is one person who was spared from Putin’s delays and that was Queen Elizabeth. She only had to wait 14 minutes for his arrival. – I would think that this is practiced from the time he worked in the Russian security service, says Malcolm Dixelius.
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