Reporters Fall for Vladimir Putin's Charm

Vladimir Putin got along swimmingly with reporters at his press conference after Tuesday's G20 meetings. They got along so well, in fact, that some reporters cheered him when the interview was over.

Vladimir Putin got along swimmingly with reporters at his press conference after Tuesday's G20 meetings. They got along so well, in fact, that some reporters cheered him when the interview was over.

The New York Times' Helene Cooper reports Putin gave a "freewheeling" interview that his handlers tried to shut down multiple times. Putin "appeared to enjoy" the interview, extending it for "one more question" more than once, and responded to his handler's attempts to give him the hook with, "Let’s not look like we are so professionally organized."

To be fair, it's not like they were battering him with difficult questions. He answered the hard ones first, like whether he thinks there should be international intervention in Syria (No, he doesn't think there should be) and what he plans putting on the agenda for next year's G20 meeting in Russia (Putin said he's "worried about the strength of the United States dollar and America’s debt"). But then there were questions like whether he's excited about the London Olympics (he "said he was excited about watching the judo matches") or who Putin, a former K.G.B. colonel, would most like to take on a spy mission, to which Putin gave the most Russin, K.G.B. answer anyone could possibly imagine: "With nobody, I’m not a spy anymore."