The term “inauguration” may feel slightly misleading. After all, this is not his first time.

Today’s ceremony will be the fifth occasion Vladimir Putin has been sworn in as Russia’s president, and it marks the start of another six years at the top.

He is already the Kremlin’s longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin, having been in power for nearly two and a half decades – 20 years as president, four as prime minister.

By the end of this term, only Catherine the Great will be ahead of him – she ruled Russia way back in the 18th century.

So, to some, President Putin may feel more like Permanent Putin.

There is a whole generation here that hasn’t lived under anyone else.

The ceremony itself will be a lavish affair, inside the glittering Grand Kremlin Palace, Russia’s “new” leader will swear an oath of loyalty to the people in front of thousands of guests.

Former Hollywood action hero (and now Russian citizen) Steven Seagal and Germany’s ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroder were among the celebrities and VIPs last time around in 2018.

A lot has changed since then, though. It will be fascinating to see who accepts their invitation.

Putin 5.0 is no surprise, of course. His victory in March’s election was a given.

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The only question was his level of support. Officially, he won 87% of the vote, which was widely condemned by Western governments as being neither free nor fair.

The latest polling, however, points to a similar figure. According to the independent Levada Centre, Putin’s current approval ratings are 85%, not far off his all-time-high.

In part, that is down to a “rally behind the flag effect”, says Levada head Denis Volkov, which Putin has been tapping into since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

But there are other factors too – namely, silencing of the opposition.

“If not Putin, then who?” is a common response, Denis says, when Levada conducts its polls.

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What’s more, the Kremlin has complete control of the media landscape.

The population is fed a strict diet of fawning coverage and today will be no different.

For the past week, the main channels have been running adverts urging people to tune into the inauguration.

It’s a spectacle Russia has got used to.

Boeing has called off its first-ever astronaut launch at the final moment after discovering a valve problem in the Atlas V rocket. 

The two NASA test pilots had just strapped into Boeing‘s Starliner capsule at Cape Canaveral space station for a flight to the International Space Station on Monday night (US EST) when the countdown stopped – two hours before the planned lift-off.

It was the latest delay for Boeing’s first crew flight, on hold for years because of capsule trouble.

The Atlas V rocket is manufactured by the United Launch Alliance, which includes Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

United Launch Alliance’s chief executive Tory Bruno said the most recent delay may have been caused by an oxygen pressure-relief valve on the upper stage of the rocket that started fluttering open and closed, creating a loud buzz.

The valve may have exceeded its 200,000 lifetime cycles which means it will have to be replaced, pushing the launch into next week, Mr Bruno said.

In an update, NASA said the launch will take place no earlier than Friday.

Mr Bruno said similar valve issues had occurred in previous years on other Atlas rockets launching satellites and these were resolved by turning the valves off and back on.

But the company has stricter flight rules for astronaut flights, prohibiting valve recycling when a crew is on board.

“And so we stayed with the rules and the procedures, and scrubbed as a result,” Mr Bruno said at a news conference.

It meant the two-member crew of NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 61, and Sunita “Suni” Williams, 58, had to be removed from the capsule by technicians, before they were whisked away from the launch complex to await a second flight attempt when the issue is resolved.

NASA’s commercial crew programme manager Steve Stich added: “We’re taking it one step at a time, and we’re going to launch when we’re ready and fly when it’s safe to do so.”

Starliner’s first test flight without a crew failed to reach the space station in 2019 and Boeing had to repeat the flight. The company then encountered parachute issues and flammable tape.

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NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX a decade ago to ferry astronauts to and from the space station after the shuttle programme ended, paying the private companies billions of dollars.

Atlas V has been in operation for more than 20 years after it was designed by Lockheed Martin.

There are times when a person is so gripped with helpless despair that they are lost within themselves. Ahmed Alhashimi, a proud man, looks at the small coffin, wrings his hands, stares at the ground and weeps.

Inside the bright white coffin is the body of his daughter, Sara. Watched by a small crowd of family members, charity workers, well-meaning locals and even council workers, her coffin is lowered into a grave.

Then, for 10 or 15 minutes, a group of mourners work hard to use shovels, and even bare hands, to fill the grave with earth.

The mound is patted down, a wooden marker put in place, with her name engraved upon it, and flowers are placed on the grave along with flowers, photos and – crushingly – a favourite soft toy.

Sara was just seven years old when she died a fortnight ago, crushed on a horrendously overcrowded migrant boat that left shore with more than 100 people on board.

Four other people died that day, too. But it is the image of Sara – young, innocent and vulnerable – that lingers. The death of a child is chilling for anyone. For her family, it is devastating.

They want to remember her, to celebrate and mourn. And so it is that, as we stand next to the morgue where his daughter’s body rests, Ahmed actually wants to talk to me.

He invites us to spend the day with him, travelling to the morgue in Lille where prayers are offered, and then to her burial.

“For all the sadness and sorrow, those final scenes of her life are ones that I will never forget,” he tells me, glassy-eyed.

“When she was taken out of the boat, those scenes I will never forget for the rest of my life.

“I lost my daughter. Every father who has a daughter, who knows the love you get from a daughter, can imagine the feeling they would suffer if they were to lose their daughter. For me – I am not imagining. I lost her for real.”

The story of cross-Channel migration is a long one, and it is pockmarked with victims. But Sara is unusual in this. Her parents were Iraqis, but they met in Belgium, where Sara was born while her parents lived in Antwerp.

The family spent some time in Finland, but then tried to make their lives in Sweden. Sara went to school there and learned the language.

Other members of her extended family had been given asylum in the country but, for some reason, Ahmed’s immediate family were denied that status.

They feared being deported back to Iraq and so, instead, decided to try to reach the United Kingdom.

“We were in Sweden for seven years and we did not even think of leaving,” Ahmed tells me. “Our children would go to school and live their normal lives. But when we were obliged to leave Sweden, when we received the deportation letter, I was left with no alternative.

“I had no choice,” Ahmed says. “I wanted to protect her life, I wanted her to have a future, a life with dignity like other children, but I could not. Everything went against me.

“The Swedish government, and the immigration officials, are the reason behind the tragedy we suffered. We are talking about children, who were born here in Europe. How could you send them to Iraq?”

I wonder whether he has thought of the future, of what would happen to his family now. Does he still hope to cross the Channel?

Ahmed shakes his head. “Of course not, of course not,” he says, gently. “I do not think of that any more, just the thought of that hurts me.

“I lost my child, I lost my daughter. She was like a butterfly, like a bird, she was everything to us, the light in our home, our source of laughter, she was everything. I lost her and I do not want to lose her brothers.”

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He says the boat on which they were travelling was packed, but safe until it was boarded by a rival group of migrants.

“They attacked us,” he tells me. “The water was only a metre deep but there was chaos. That’s when people suffocated.”

His hope now is that the British government will see his pain, feel his loss, and offer hope.

“I call on the British people and the government to help me reach Britain legally. I don’t want assistance. I can work, so can my wife. I just want security and safety for my children. That is all.”

Sara lies now under the shade of a tree in Lille’s cemetery. A girl born in Belgium, to Iraqi parents, who grew up in Sweden and was bound for Britain – now laid to rest in northern France.

It is an awful reminder that there is nothing simple about the challenge of migration. The questions are profound, and the tentacles spread far. And it is also a dire warning – this has been a record year for crossings, and for deaths.

So far this year, I have already been to the funerals of two seven-year-old girls who died trying to cross the Channel on a small boat. There will, inevitably, be another tragedy. The only question is when.