Anton Barbashin and Hannah Thoburn: Putin’s philosopher
The the last days of April, Russian television aired a 150-minute documentary about Vladimir Putin’s decade and a half as the leader of Russia. Shown around the anniversary of his first inauguration (May 7, 2000), the movie offered a blunt message: in the 15 years of Putin's rule, he had saved Russia from the forces of destruction, both internal - Chechnya and the oligarchs - and external - insidious Western influence. He, the movie repeatedly reinforced, is the only thing holding the country together.