Putin’s portrait or why the West should not hope for a “kinder” Russia

Putin is one of the favorite topics in the Western media. While in office, the Russian president has been put under the microscope from different angles. Many attempts at creating his psychological portrait and discovering his identity have been undertaken in order to understand what is to be expected from Putin’s Russia. The most popular and obvious detail is Putin’s past as a KGB officer. It can go like this: “In the mind of Putin, a former KGB officer, a country that was once...