The Russian government has demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that it is not a good faith interlocutor. Nobody should take anything they say seriously.
It's almost amazing that the newspapers reprint what Putin says, as if it was something to take seriously. Without explaining to the readers that Putin is trying to manipulate them. -- They're sometimes letting themselves be a megaphone he can use, I think.
Would-be tyrant -- I'm guessing you have in mind the president in the US who didn't want to leave, after having lost the elections? (Could have made him a dictator at least, eventually, if he had succeeded. A tyrant? Hmm it means "a cruel and oppressive ruler" -- so yes, then, I'd guess it would have turned out that way. Cliffhanger ... soon 2024.) Or am I'm bad at guessing :-)
