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Putin’s week: Facing NATO expansion, West’s unity on Ukraine

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the media after the summit of Caspian Sea littoral states in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Thursday, June 30, 2022. Putin said the actions in Ukraine "are proceeding according to plan" and "our forces are moving forward and attaining the objectives that have been set for the particular period of the engagement," adding that he wouldn't rush the operation to minimize losses. (Dmitry Azarov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File) FILE - Indonesian President Joko Widodo, left, gestures after a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin after their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, June 30, 2022. Indonesian President Joko Widodo, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Group of 20 leading rich and developing nations, is heading to Ukraine and Russia for meetings with the leaders of the two warring nations following a visit to Germany to attend the Group of Seven summit. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File) FILE - Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, third left, shakes hands with Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, right, next to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, center, and Finland's President Sauli Niinisto, second right, after signing a memorandum in which Turkey agrees to Finland and Sweden's membership of the defense alliance in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, June 28, 2022. It has not been an easy week for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He watched as NATO declared Moscow its main enemy and invited Russia's neighbors Sweden and Finland to join the alliance. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File) FILE - People watch as smoke bellows after a Russian missile strike hit a crowded shopping mall, in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, Monday, June 27, 2022. It has not been an easy week for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He took his first foreign trip since the invasion of Ukraine to shore up relations with troublesome Central Asian allies. And he was forced to deny that his troops had yet again attacked a civilian target in Ukraine. (Viacheslav Priadko via AP, File) FILE - In this image taken from video and provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 which claims to show the moment a missile struck the shopping mall in Kremenchuk. It has not been an easy week for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He took his first foreign trip since the invasion of Ukraine to shore up relations with troublesome Central Asian allies. And he was forced to deny that his troops had yet again attacked a civilian target in Ukraine. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP, File) FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, speaks to Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, back to a camera, on the sideline of the summit of Caspian Sea littoral states in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Wednesday, June 29, 2022. During a meeting in Ashgabat with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the sidelines of the summit, Putin emphasized "strategic" ties between Moscow and Tehran. (Grigory Sysoyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File) FILE - From the left: Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, Turkmenistan's President Serdar Berdymukhamedov, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev pose for a photo on the sideline of the summit of Caspian Sea littoral states in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Wednesday, June 29, 2022. It has not been an easy week for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He took his first foreign trip since the invasion of Ukraine to shore up relations with troublesome Central Asian allies. (Grigory Sysoyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File) In this photo released by the Kremlin Press Service, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, Turkmenistan's President Serdar Berdymukhamedov, second left, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, center, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, background right, and Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, right, attend the summit of Caspian Sea littoral states in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Wednesday, June 29, 2022. It has not been an easy week for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He took his first foreign trip since the invasion of Ukraine to shore up relations with troublesome Central Asian allies. (Kremlin Press Service via AP, File) Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a joint news conference with Indonesian President Joko Widodo after their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, June 30, 2022. It has not been an easy week for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He took his first foreign trip since the invasion of Ukraine to shore up relations with troublesome Central Asian allies. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)