A Czar with No Empire

“President Vladimir Putin likes to portray himself as a new czar like Peter the Great or Ivan III, the 15th-century grand prince known as the ‘gatherer of the Russian lands,’” the Washington Post reports.

“But Putin’s year-long war in Ukraine has failed so far to secure the lands he aims to seize, and, in Russia, there is fear that he is leading his nation into a dark period of strife and stagnation or worse.”

“Some in the elite also say the Russian leader now desperately needs a military victory to ensure his own survival.”