Love Story star O’Neal dies peacefully aged 82

James Kilner

VLADIMIR PUTIN will stand in the Russian presidential election in March, telling soldiers at a ceremony in the Kremlin that there was “no other way”.

Putin, 71, claimed that he had thought about retiring but the war in Ukraine meant he had a duty to stay on.

“I will not hide that I have had different thoughts at different times but it is now time to make a decision. I understand that there is no other way,” he told a pro-Russia separatist military commander who had begged him in front of TV cameras to remain as Russia’s leader.

The Kremlin later confirmed Putin’s decision because “a lot of people” were asking him to remain as president. He will be attending a conference of his United Russia political party next week, although there has also been speculation that he will run as an independent candidate.

Putin designed the announcement to appear like a response to popular demand, said Ben Noble, an associate professor of Russian politics at University College London. “That explains the clunky political theatre,” he said.

Putin has been the Russian leader since taking over from Boris Yeltsin, who resigned on New Year’s Eve 1999. Winning another presidential election in March will keep him in power until 2030, and under the current Russian constitution, which he has tweaked, Putin can rule until 2036.

However, Putin’s actual popularity is not clear. Surveys by polling units linked to the Kremlin have said that his popularity in Russia is above 70 per cent but there have been no authoritative independent polls. Even so, Putin appears desperate to use the presidential election to burnish his legacy as a great Russian war leader and also to gloss over ordinary Russians’ suffering from his invasion of Ukraine.

Estimates have said that the Russian army has suffered 300,000 casualties since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Russia’s economy has faltered and the government will now spend a third of its total budget on the military.

Anti-war demonstrations are banned but wives and mothers of men mobilised in September last year have pledged to protest until their men are given a break from the front line.

Tanya Stanovaya, the chief executive of the R.Politik think tank, said that the war was now central to Putin’s legacy. “The nomination is filled with symbolism,” she said. “Putin chose war, war chooses Putin.”

Russia’s Central Election Commission has confirmed that the presidential election will be held across three days on March 15-17 to allow for electronic voting, which the Kremlin trialled at September’s regional elections.

The Kremlin’s critics have said that electronic voting makes the election easier to manipulate. Putin will face no serious opposition in the election.

Russian president claimed to have considered retiring but war in Ukraine meant he had a duty to think again

HOLLYWOOD star Ryan O’Neal has died “peacefully” at the age of 82, his son Patrick O’Neal announced.

The US actor starred in drama

before rising to international stardom after his Oscar-nominated turn as Oliver in the romantic 1970 film opposite Ali MacGraw.

He later starred in with Barbra Streisand, and

opposite his daughter Tatum, who won an Academy Award at the age of 10 for her performance.

“My dad passed away peacefully today, with his loving team by his side supporting him and loving him as

‘My father Ryan O’Neal has always been my hero. I looked up to him and he was always bigger than life’

he would us,” Patrick announced on Instagram.

“My father Ryan O’Neal has always been my hero. I looked up to him and he was always bigger than life. When I was born in 1967 my dad was already a TV star on

“That’s where he met my mum Leigh Taylor-Young, and about nine months later (give or take a date night or two) I was born.

“My dad became an international movie star with Love Story at the beginning of the 1970s, a decade he absolutely crushed by starring in movies like What’s Up, Doc?, Paper Moon, Barry Lyndon, A Bridge Too Far, The Main Event and The Driver.

“He is a Hollywood legend. Full stop.”

Patrick said the “growth spurt” of the name Ryan can be traced back to his father.

Ryan O’Neal starred in opposite Ali MacGraw, above. He was nominated for an Oscar for his role in the 1970 film