LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Putin’s modus operandi: Keeping what’s not his

OPINION:

So Russia’s rootin’ tootin’ president, Vladimir Putin, refuses to return NSA leaker Edward Snowden to the United States so the computer analyst can stand trial for federal secrets violations (“Putin: Snowden must stop leaking secrets to stay,” Web, July 1). This is nothing new.

On a previous occasion, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft showed this KGB goon his diamond-encrusted Super Bowl ring. Mr. Putin walked away without returning it and now refuses to give that item back, as well. Is there a pattern here?

The diminutive, five-foot-seven-inch Russian president seems to have a penchant for regularly scripting diplomatic embarrassment.

In the free world, he would just be a garden-variety bully with a few old-guard sycophants to falsely attest to his amateur profligacy. In Russia, however, he’s what everybody’s stuck with. Where is Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev? Or does he not matter at all?

VICTOR REDLICK

Toronto