The New Tsar by Steven Lee Myers

7.5 out of 10

As a fairly humble KGB officer stationed in East Germany, Putin had a front row seat to the chaos surrounding the fall of the USSR.  He returned to Russia and was taken under the wing of Sobchak as deputy mayor of a reviving St. Petersburg.  He relocated to the Kremlin in Moscow and rocketed to head of national intelligence and security.  He was hand-picked by Yeltsin to be prime minister and heir to the presidency.  He aggressively built military strength in Chechnya.  He conducted faux elections.  He skirted the law to remain in power through the Tandem Deal with Medvedev.  He suppressed opposition through intimidation and state-run media propagandizement.  He glorified his "kindness".  He displayed his grandeur at the Sochi Olympics.  He blatantly antagonized and tested the resolve of the US and NATO:  Georgia, Arab Spring, Pussy Riot, Snowden, Syria, Crimea, Sevastopol, ...
"Legally" he still has up to eight more years in power.  We shall see what comes from a man who employs secrecy and surprise while claiming to be the "Living embodiment of Russian stability".