Putin Offers False Comfort to Western Conservatives
His latest vision of Russia as an enemy of wokeism and a defender of traditional values fails to pass the laugh test.
A man and a country in search of a message.
Photographer: Evgeny Paulin/AFP via Getty Images
Running Russia as a near-absolute monarch was never enough for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The story of his 21-year rule is equally about trying to formulate Russia's proposition to the rest of the world — a kind of national brand message, something that was lost when the Soviet Union ceased to be the global purveyor of the far-left ideal.
The current — and likely final — edition of Russia’s brand essence is “reasonable conservatism,” as formulated by Putin at the most recent session of the Valdai Discussion Club, an annual gathering of Putin-friendly and Putin-curious intellectuals.