If anyone expected Western sanctions against Russia to give President Vladimir Putin pause or damp his imperialist fervor, they were wrong. Since the middle ages, Russian elites have acted the way a hedgehog does when threatened: roll into a ball and stick out quills.
Gennady Timchenko, a billionaire friend of Putin's, provides a fascinating insight into that kind of thinking in a rare interview with the state-owned information agency ITAR-TASS.
Timchenko, worth an estimated $8.9 billion, is not just any oligarch. His Labrador retriever, Romi, is the daughter of Putin's Connie. ("I had never been a dog person but Vladimir Vladimirovich apparently wanted to give a puppy into good hands, so naturally I agreed," he explained.)