When Russian President Vladimir Putin was sworn in for his first term on May 7, 2000, few analysts could have predicted that the 47-year-old democratically elected leader would one day seize control of the Russian state and remake Moscow into a revanchist power.

“[I]f you had asked me or basically anyone whether Vladimir Putin would become the longest-serving Russian leader since Joseph Stalin, the response would have likely been either incredulous silence or uproarious laughter,” Susan B. Glasser, FP’s former editor in chief, wrote in 2020. “Putin’s main qualifications for the job … were that he was: young, articulate, and, literally, sober.”

When Russian........

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