Putin rolls out new Russian limo at inauguration

Russian President Vladimir Putin glided across the Kremlin square in a boxy black Russian-made limousine ahead of today's inauguration, making a break with previous ceremonies when he used a Mercedes.

The new model called the Senate Limousine marks a return to the Soviet-era practice of the country's leaders riding in domestically made ceremonial cars. Soviet leaders rode in ZIL limousines, while lower-ranking officials had chauffeured Chaikas, or seagulls.

RIA Novosti state news agency quoted a guest at the ceremony as saying that the new car "is cooler than Trump's," with the US President riding in a Cadillac.

"This is the main automobile intrigue of the last five years," raved a reporter on Rossiya 24 television, boasting that the car is "made in Russia, made with Russian components and made by the hands of Russian specialists."