On 24 February, the armor of the “enlightened autocrat” that had housed Vladimir Putin for the previous 20 years cracked and fell to pieces. The world saw a monster – crazed in its desires and ruthless in its decisions. The monster had grown gradually, gaining strength from year to year, marinating in its own absolute authority, imperial aggression, hatred for western democracy, and malice fueled
![Vladimir Putin sits atop a crumbling pyramid of power | Vladimir Sorokin](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/d7787719316e0ee5716532b899c6608526328b3d/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fi.guim.co.uk%2Fimg%2Fmedia%2F345a280a3d5efaf413d9ace585131e5626f03bb1%2F0_205_3072_1843%2Fmaster%2F3072.jpg%3Fwidth%3D1200%26height%3D630%26quality%3D85%26auto%3Dformat%26fit%3Dcrop%26overlay-align%3Dbottom%252Cleft%26overlay-width%3D100p%26overlay-base64%3DL2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctb3BpbmlvbnMtYWdlLTIwMjIucG5n%26enable%3Dupscale%26s%3D3ac97e2fb68a1cc095686c36f82191c5)