Putin’s lethally negligent failure can’t be covered up. The Moscow attack leaves him weaker than ever | Simon Tisdall

The mask of invincibility is slipping ever further, and eventually that will matter. This debacle won't be forgiven or forgotten

Each time Vladimir Putin messes up, the same question is asked: will it make any difference? Last week's terrorist attack on the Crocus City concert hall near Moscow, which killed 137 people, is one of the bigger crises Putin has faced in his 25-year rule. There is no doubt that he, as Russia's head of state and overall chief of its security forces, bears ultimate responsibility for what was by any measure a catastrophic failure. In any normal political system, his resignation would be expected.

The fact this is more or less unimaginable is not necessarily a sign of Putin's strength. His dictatorship has eviscerated checks and balances within Russian society, eliminating means of independent scrutiny. Any call for him to take personal responsibility would barely be heard, let alone acted on. Yet the Russian people, while chronically misled and serially misinformed, are not stupid.

Simon Tisdall is the Observer's foreign affairs commentator

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