A Czar Is Born

Vladimir Putin inauguration
In Russia, political decision-making is an elite ritual, a mystery to be performed out of sight of the people, who are allegedly too unenlightened to understand it anyway. They are simply presented with the result and expected to venerate it. Photo: Sergei Bobylyov/Pool/AFP
Julia Ioffe
May 8, 2024

Under gray skies and a wet May snow, Vladimir Putin was inaugurated to his fifth term as Russian president today, though I will be honest and say, I had to look that number up. It is a meaningless one, anyway. What is a presidential term to a man who intends to be king until he dies?