Why Putin thinks he’s the winner in Russia’s prisoner swap with the West

It s something Vladimir Putin does rarely: go to the airport to meet people off a plane. Personally.

But he was there last night: on the tarmac at Moscow s Vnukovo Airport to meet and greet those Russians whose release he d secured from foreign jails; part of the largest prisoner swap between Russia and the West since the Cold War.

Out of the plane and down the steps came 10 people, including spies, sleeper agents and a convicted assassin.

Congratulations on your return to the Motherland! he told them.

You could tell that the Kremlin believes it has something to celebrate.

via www.bbc.com