Russian President Vladimir Putin was Tuesday sworn into office at a lavish Kremlin ceremony for a record-breaking fifth term with more power than ever before.

The 71-year-old has ruled Russia since the turn of the century, securing a fresh six-year mandate in March after winning presidential elections devoid of all opposition.

In his inauguration speech, Putin said that Russia would emerge from the current “difficult” period victorious and stronger, as he took power for a record fifth presidential term.

“We will pass through this difficult, decisive period with dignity and become even stronger,” Putin said at his inauguration ceremony at the Kremlin, attended by an AFP journalist.

“We are a united and great nation,” Putin said in an upbeat speech, to applause from an audience of around 2,500 people including officials and military top brass.

“Together we will overcome all obstacles, achieve everything we have planned, and together we will win,” he said.

He said after being sworn into office that he viewed the presidency as a “huge honour, responsibility and sacred duty”.

The Russian leader vowed to ensure “sustained and stable development, unity and independence of the country”.

Putin thanked soldiers taking part in what Russia calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine, more than two years after it began on February 24, 2022, at a ceremony attended by some of those fighting.

“We are looking forward confidently,” Putin stressed in his speech, which was aired on national television.

Evoking the country’s “thousand-year history” as he spoke in the Kremlin’s gilded St Andrew’s Hall, the president said that present-day Russians owed a debt to previous generations who achieved “such triumphs that inspire us today”.

He said Russians shared a “firm conviction that we ourselves alone will determine the fate of Russia for the sake of present and future generations”.

Russia is “not refusing dialogue with western states” and is ready to talk about “questions of security and strategic stability”, Putin said, “but only on equal terms, respecting the interests of each other”.

AFP

Manhattan court Judge Juan Merchan on Monday said he will consider a jail sentence for former President Donald Trump if he continues to violate the gag order imposed upon him.

This is even as the judge fined the former President $1,000 for an additional violation, but said it is “clear” that the fine is not effective.

Recall that Trump is currently undergoing trial in Manhattan, where he is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Fox News reports that Merchan had imposed a gag order on Trump before the trial began, ordering that he cannot make or direct others to make public statements about witnesses with regard to their potential participation or about counsel in the case.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and prosecutors have alleged more than a dozen gag order violations by the former President.

However, Merchan said on Monday that going forward, the court will have to consider “a jail sentence”.

“The last thing I want to consider is jail,” Merchan said. “You are former President and possibly the next President.

“The magnitude of that decision is not lost on me. Your continued willful violation of the court’s order constitutes a direct attack and will not be allowed to continue. It is not allowed to continue.”

Trump and his defense attorneys have argued that the former President and presumptive Republican presidential nominee should not be bound by the gag order, saying it violates his First Amendment rights as well as the First Amendment rights of his supporters.

Britain’s King Charles III on Monday marked the first anniversary of his coronation following a difficult year that has seen a cancer diagnosis and continuing tensions with his estranged son Prince Harry.

To celebrate the occasion a 41-gun salute rang out from Green Park next to Buckingham Palace at noon (1100 GMT), followed an hour later with 62 volleys fired from another central London location.

No official events, however, were planned with the milestone coming less than a week after King Charles resumed public duties since his diagnosis.

He visited fellow cancer patients at a London hospital on Tuesday after doctors said they were “very encouraged” by his progress.

The 75-year-old monarch, who has not disclosed the type of cancer he has, was also reportedly keen to mark the day with minimal “fuss” given the link between his accession and the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who crowned King Charles a year ago at Westminster Abbey, praised his “sense of duty”.

“The past year has presented the king with some great personal challenges. But I have been struck by his continued sense of duty, having recently returned to royal engagements following treatment,” he said.

“His openness in sharing his condition has been characteristic of his willingness to help and support others,” he added.

The anniversary comes as an Ipsos poll for the Daily Mail saw King Charles’s personal popularity rating rise slightly to 56 per cent.

His son and heir Prince William and his wife Catherine, the Princess of Wales, were the most popular members of the royal family with 69 per cent each, up 8-10 per cent since last April.