The Putin Problem World
The West treats Vladimir Putin as an aberration among recent Russian rulers, a reactionary undoing the liberalisation achieved under Gorbachev and Yeltsin. But in the main he continues the policies of his predecessors, which were “grounded in a similar understanding of Russia’s destiny”. Russia “regards itself as a great power, defends its interests as defined by its leadership, and, even in times of weakness, acts on the premise that recovery and resurgence are inevitable” (5,050 words)
