Former US secretary Henry Kissinger says Putin is a 'patriot'.

AFP - Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger said Sunday that Russia's president-elect Vladimir Putin is a "patriot" who could turn out to be a constructive partner with the United States on certain issues.
Kissinger said Putin, who was elected to a third term as president in an election marred by irregularities and protests against his rule, "is not anti-western."
"He is, above all, a Russian patriot who feels humiliated by the experience of the 1990s, which were in the most formative period of his career," Kissinger said in an interview with CNN, referring to the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and the crisis that followed.
"He is very resentful of what he interprets as intervention in Russian domestic affairs and even more, of course, in what he may interpret and does interpret as some American tendencies to support his political opponents in order to encourage his overthrow," he said.
"But I believe that a dialogue is possible and on specific issues he can turn out to be a constructive partner," he said.