When Vladimir Putin last attacked Ukraine in 2014, Barack Obama dismissed Russia as a “regional power” that was acting out of weakness rather than strength. In the years since, the Russian president has sought to prove Obama wrong, bolstering his country’s influence across the world in a way that will complicate western attempts to turn it into a pariah state.
From the Middle East to sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, Putin has used a mix of arms shipments and mercenaries, soft loans and energy expertise to acquire friends and allies — while the West has been looking elsewhere. This has been coupled with a sophisticated disinformation strategy — whether through social media “troll farms” or the RT media outlet — that has bolstered the Kremlin’s.
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