Russia Without Putin: Money, Power and the Myths of the New Cold War

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IT IS HARD TO THINK of Russia today without thinking of Vladimir Putin. Perhaps more than any other major national leader, he personifies his country in the eyes of the outside world. In Russia itself, he has dominated the political scene for almost two decades with his trademark combination of cool calculation and prickly machismo, his every word beamed daily into homes across the country. And he has proved lastingly popular, sometimes attracting the kind of gushing admiration previously lavished on Communist leaders – a latter-day cult of personality expressed in fawning media coverage, kitschy memorabilia, even a brand of vodka. Through three presidential terms and two stints as prime minister, he has enjoyed approval ratings that would be the envy of any world leader. Since he first took office as Yeltsin’s premier in August 1999, even surveys made by independent pollsters have rarely put him below 70 per cent, and he has largely remained above 80 since the spring of 2014, as tensions with the West have steadily mounted.

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