The Russian president fought particularly hard for the Winter Olympics to be held in Sochi. His name will be associated with them in a way unmatched by any other political leader in recent times. It is his chance to defy his mockers and demonstrate once and for all that Russia is more that oil, gas, oligarchs and a dodgy record on human rights. But has he succeeded? And what sort of Russia is Vladimir Putin building?
Dmitri Trenin, director of the Moscow Center of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, gives FRANCE 24's Robert Parsons his point of view.
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