The former US President neither had Putin in check nor was his buddy. The former simply respects rich people; this is essentially what he sees in people, money. And considering that when he was bankrupt, his mansion in NY was bought by a Russian oligarch, Russians, in his view, were a tangible source of money.
I doubt anyone will because Boris Nemtsov, the outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin, denied such a possibility. Maybe the world has changed, but not these people. Or maybe it is not feasible, logistically. As to Stalin, I was always 50/50 on this. There was the version that Stalin was poisoned by coumarin, but his last months coincided with the “Doctors’ plot”, as the result of which the ever-paranoid Stalin did not trust any doctor to treat him, did not control his blood pressure and, per his daughter Svetlana, was self-medicating with some powders he took out of a box. So, 74 years old, life-long smoker, many stressors in life, not an alcoholic but drinking, short neck, chance of sleep apnea. Plus, unmonitored and uncontrolled blood pressure. A natural stroke is quite possible given the circumstances. Also, if it was so feasible to kill Stalin, why didn’t Beria do it sooner?
️A number of cities and towns in Ukraine, including Okhtyrka and Kharkiv sustained heavy damages after Russian shelling.
what it looks like now 
