There’s Trouble Brewing on Putin’s Home Front
Russia’s leader has spent years preparing for a fight like the one he has picked in Ukraine. But with slow military progress, heavy sanctions and a crumbling ruble, even billionaires are speaking up.
Beginning of the end?
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/BloombergIt’s been a study in contrasting leadership. On the one hand, Russian President Vladimir Putin is shown on state television giving orders to stony-faced officials, distant at the far end of a long table. On the other, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in military fatigues on the streets of Kyiv, talks directly to his citizens (and to the world) impromptu via Telegram, urging courage and vowing to stay on in a city under fire.
One, increasingly paranoid, belligerent and isolated, is talking up the threat of a government in Kyiv he says is populated by Nazis and “drug addicts.” The other, a comedian-turned-president whose popularity had been faltering, has grown into a popular wartime leader with a golden social media touch. The contrast is only becoming starker as Russia’s war fails to go to plan, and catastrophic economic consequences multiply.