Russia is the house that Vladimir Putin built – and he’ll never abandon it | Dmitri Trenin

By co-opting the masses against the elite, the president has shaped a country to echo his values and grievances. And now he's working to secure his legacy

When Vladimir Putin was asked about his job, two years after becoming master of the Kremlin on New Year's Eve, 1999, he said something about being a hired manager elected by the Russian people for a term of office. When he is asked about his job now, he calls it "fate". Yesterday saw thousands joined the biggest since anti-government demonstrations in many years to protest against Putin and his prime minister/proti(C)gi(C) Dmitry Medvedev.

Even so the Russian people, Putin is above all a symbol of stability after a decade and a half of turmoil that included the misguided and botched reform of the Soviet communist system; its abrupt end and the sudden advent of freedom that often looked like a free-for-all; the painful dissolution of the Soviet Union; market reforms, often dubbed "shock without therapy"; virtually instant crass inequality; the end of ideology and the collapse of morals.

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