Steven Fish: The end of the Putin mystique
Vladimir Putin has enjoyed an aura of invincibility ever since his meteoric rise from intelligence functionary to president in 2000. He was the man who could bring a dead economy to life and make Russia matter in the world again. But the Putin mystique was built on more than economic performance and Russian nationalism. It has also rested on a third pillar, one that is poorly understood in the West, where democracy is invariably associated with free elections and civil liberties.