Vladimir Putin’s regime describes itself by its grudges. The Russian president harbours a lengthy list of grievances and imagined slights, reaching from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the expansion of the EU and Nato to US military interventions in the Middle East. The most personally wounding, though, comprised a few words uttered a couple of years ago by US President Barack Obama.
Mr Putin craves respect. Russia, Mr Obama said, was no more than a “regional power” whose revanchist military intervention in Ukraine was evidence of weakness rather than a demonstration of prowess. Russian actions were “a problem”, but not the biggest threat to America’s national security. You could hear the screams of anguish in the Kremlin.
