MOSCOW—Saying he can’t imagine beginning his day without the pages spread out on his kitchen table, Russian president Vladimir Putin told reporters Thursday that he starts off each morning by sitting down to write the day’s news. “Every day before I go to work, I like to come downstairs, have a cup of coffee, and jot down some stories for my state-run media outlets,” said the Russian leader, adding that he occasionally only has time to scribble the front-page headlines when he’s in a hurry. “I typically start off writing whatever the big national and political news should be and then maybe work my way over to smaller stuff. As an autocratic ruler, I just think it’s my responsibility to manipulate what’s going on in the world.” Putin went on to say that he always looks forward to spending hours really sinking his teeth into manufacturing the news on Sundays.

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