Center for Security Studies

Taking the Shortcut to Popularity: How Putin’s Power is Sustained through Ukraine

Taking the Shortcut to Popularity: How Putin’s Power is Sustained through Ukraine

Author(s): Bo Petersson
Editor(s): Stephen Aris, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder, Aglaya Snetkov
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 148
Pages: 6-9
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen; Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, George Washington University
Publication Year: 2014

Putin has built his popularity on two incongruent myths: that Russia is an eternal great power and that the country is beset by cyclical periods of weakness. Putin’s popularity stands in contrast to the lack of legitimacy within Russia’s overall political system. Recently, Putin has used Ukraine to revive his popularity as his term in power stretches well beyond a decade, but it remains unclear what the cost of these actions will be.

Download:

JavaScript has been disabled in your browser