The age of Putin
👉The Russian President begins a new term with huge economic and foreign policy challenges👈 Vladimir Putin, who has maintained a tight grip on power in Russia for almost two decades, begins his fourth term as President at a time when the country is going through a difficult period, economically and diplomatically. Widely credited with stabilising post-Soviet Russia during his first two terms after the chaos of the Boris Yeltsin years, Mr. Putin presents himself as a strongman seeking to restore Russia’s lost glory. This image has helped him bolster his popularity. In the March presidential election he won 77% of the popular vote, the largest margin for any post-Soviet leader. That majority is a reminder of the suffocating grip that Mr. Putin and his coterie have on the democratic process. Russia’s most prominent opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, was barred from contesting the election, which rendered the presidential race a formality for the re-coronation of Mr. Putin. One of his...