Vladimir Putin seemed to have come from nowhere when he succeeded the ailing and incompetent Boris Yeltsin as President of Russia in March 2000. It was as if he had taken the Kremlin by stealth - perhaps, it was whispered, using the skills he acquired as a senior agent in the KGB. In fact, Putin's rise to prominence owes more to a combination of canny manoeuvring and blat, the traditional Russian system of cronyism and patronage. PUTIN'S PROGRESS is the first comprehensive exploration in English of Putin's character and offers many insights into his likely legacy, shedding new light on one of the most enigmatic of modern leaders and what it means to live in Putin's Russia.

For 200 years, Russia has had a love-hate relationship with the West. Anxious on the one hand to emulate Western institutions, ideas and lifestyles, while on the other strongly nationalistic and suspicious of Western political and cultural encroachment. All signs show, argues the author, that Russia is leading back towards more comfortable and familiar territory away from the West. With most shades of Russian political opinion now firmly set on a "Russia First" policy, following the West's failure to accommodate Russia's post-Communist economic and diplomatic needs, coupled with the pain associated with Western economic models, he concludes that Russia is developing its own "Tsarist" solutions with profound effects on domestic and foreign policy.

For 200 years Russia has had a love-hate relationship with the West. Anxious on the one hand to emulate Western institutions, ideas and lifestyles, while on the other, strongly nationalistic and suspicious of Western political and cultural encroachment. All signs show, argues the author, that Russia is leading back towards more comfortable and familiar territory away from the West. With most shades of Russian political opinion now firmly set on a "Russia First" policy following the West's failure to accommodate Russia's post-Communist economic and diplomatic needs, coupled with the pain associated with Western economic models, he concludes that Russia is developing its own "Tsarist" solutions with profound effects on domestic and foreign policy.