Putin, 'I'm not a tsar'

(ANSA) - MOSCOW, MARCH 19 - Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that he does not consider himself a tsar at all.
In his interview with TASS on the "20 questions to Vladimir Putin" project, the head of state said that a czar is silent on giving orders, while the president works every day. "A tsar is someone who sits there, looks down and says, 'they'll do what I order them' while he tries on a cap and looks in the mirror," said the president. Putin, who held the top positions of the Russian government for 20 years, confessed that it never occurred to him that his tenure at the helm of power would last so long. "It never crossed my mind. I never thought I'd end up here. It would never have occurred to me," he said. Speaking of the possibility of abandoning the race to a certain point, Putin said he felt "responsible for what is happening and what will happen in the future".