This year was supposed to be the Kremlin’s “year of triumph,” one in which the life rule of Vladimir Putin would be confirmed, but instead, Liliya Shevtsova says, 2020 is rapidly becoming his Waterloo – a time when both he and his system have sailed into disaster.
All the plans he had only a few months ago must now be “thrown in the trash,” the Russian commentator says. The coronavirus pandemic has proved fatal “not only for the individual but also for his construction which was erected for another time”.