No More Teflon Putin

In a comment piece in The Moscow Times John Lough, an associate fellow of the Russia & Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, comments that President-elect Vladimir Putin is returning to the Kremlin as a diminished figure because of unprecedented criticism of his rule from within Russia. Ultimately, it is the economy that will determine the speed of change and Russia is unlikely to face short-term difficulties. Yet the longer-term problems are mounting up quickly and may be beyond the regime's ability to manage them.