Putin's Russia: From basket case to resurgent superpower

Vladimir Putin and his Russia look more invincible today than at any other time in his 18 years in power.

FILE In this file photo taken on Friday, Dec. 31, 1999, Former President Boris Yeltsin smiles as he holds a door before leaving his study as then Russian acting President and Premier Vladimir Putin listens in the Kremlin, Russia. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

Since Putin last faced an election in 2012, Russians have invaded Ukraine, annexed Crimea, blanket-bombed Syria, been accused of meddling in the U.S. presidential election and claimed to have a scary new nuclear arsenal.

FILE In this file photo taken on Sunday, Jan. 23, 2000, Russian soldiers fire artillery at rebel positions near the village of Duba-Yurt, 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of the capital Grozny, Russia. (AP Photo/Maxim Marmur, File)

"No one listened to us. You listen to us now," he said earlier this month, boasting about those weapons.

Putin will overwhelmingly win re-election as president on March 18, again. So why bother holding a vote at all?

FILE - In this file photo taken in Feb. 2000, Russian soldiers rest at Minutka square, in Grozny, Chechnya, Russia. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov, File)

He disdains democracy as messy and dangerous — yet he craves the legitimacy conferred by an election. He needs tangible evidence that Russians need him and his great-power vision more than they worry about the freedoms he has muffled, the endemic corruption he has failed to eradicate, the sanctions he invited by his actions in Crimea and Ukraine.

FILE - In this file photo taken on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014, Pro-Russian rebels fire artillery toward Ukrainian position at Donetsk Sergey Prokofiev International Airport outskirts the city of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky, file)

"Any autocrat wants love," said analyst Andrei Kolesnikov of the Carnegie Moscow Center, and Putin gets that love "from high support in elections."

Expected to win as much as 80 percent of the vote, Putin will further cement his authority over Russia, a czar-like figure with a democratic veneer.

FILE - In this file photo taken on Friday, March 3, 2000, Acting President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with workers during his visit to an oil and gas field in Surgut, western Siberia, Russia. (AP Photo/Pool, File)

During his 14 years as president and four years as prime minister of the world's largest country, Putin has transformed Russia's global image, consolidated power over its politics and economy and imprisoned opponents. He has offered asylum to Edward Snowden, quieted extremism in long-restive Chechnya, hosted phenomenally expensive Olympic Games and won the right to stage this year's World Cup.

Now 65-years-old, he's not planning to leave anytime soon.

For 19-year-old art history student Maria Pogodina, "Putin is all of my conscious life, and so it's clear I have a lot to say thank you for."

FILE - In this file photo taken on Sunday, March 26, 2000, Acting Russian President and Presidential candidate Vladimir Putin talks with representatives of the news media at a polling station in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/ Alexander Zemlianichenko, file)

FILE - In this file photo taken on Tuesday, March 31, 2009, Former Yukos oil giant CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky smiles towards massed photographers from a courtroom glass dock in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze, File)

Yet Pogodina worries about some of his policies as she prepares to vote and hopes to see a gradual transformation.

FILE-In this Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012 file photo members of the Russian radical feminist group chant a prayer against Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev, file)

"I am not talking about revolution, no way," the teenager said, summing up the stance of many Russians of all ages. "I hope and believe it won't happen and that we can avoid civil conflict."

FILE - In this file photo taken on Friday, May 7, 2004, Russian President Vladimir Putin walks through St.George's Hall to take part in an inauguration ceremony in Moscow's Kremlin, Russia. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File )

The election will confirm Putin's argument that to improve life in Russia, the country needs continuity more than it needs drastic change, independent media, political opposition, environmental activism or rights for homosexuals and other minorities.

Russia will remain disproportionately dependent on oil prices, and its 144 million people will stay poorer than they should be — and many will remain convinced that the world is out to get them.

FILE - In this Wednesday, June 26, 2013, file photo transit passengers eat at a cafe with a TV screen with a news program showing a report on Edward Snowden, in the background, at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits, File)

FILE - In this file photo taken on Friday, Aug. 17, 2012, Feminist punk group Pussy Riot members, from left, Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel, File)

Putin's most important mission in the next six years will be working out a plan for what happens when his next term expires in 2024: Will he anoint a friendly successor or invent a scheme that allows him to keep holding the reins?

FILE - In this Feb. 23, 2014, file photo International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin watched the closing ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics, in Sochi, Russia. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, file)

Today's all-powerful Putin bears little resemblance to the man who took his tentative first steps as president on the eve of the new millennium.

Catapulted to power on Boris Yeltsin's surprise resignation as president, Putin walked into his new office Dec. 31, 1999, in a suit that seemed too big for his shoulders. His low-level KGB background made him seem shifty, and many Russians regarded him as little more than a puppet of the oligarchs then pulling the Kremlin's strings.

FILE - In this Sunday, July 20, 2014, file photo Ukrainian Emergency workers carry a victim's body in a body bag as pro-Russian fighters stand guard at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 near the village of Hrabove, eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, file)

Russia was still emerging from a tumultuous post-Soviet hangover. Contract killings dominated headlines, its army couldn't afford socks for its soldiers, and its budget was still dependent on foreign loans.

Eighteen years later, Putin's friends run the economy and Russia's military is resurgent.

FILE - In this file photo taken on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the troops at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Pool Photo via AP, File)

An entire generation has never known a Russia without Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin in charge. And an increasing number of other leaders — President Donald Trump among them — are emulating his nationalist, besieged fortress mentality.

The once-feisty Russian media has fallen silent. Kremlin propaganda now has a global audience, via far-reaching networks RT and Sputnik.

FILE - In this file photo taken on Friday, July 7, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Yet while Putin looks invulnerable on the surface, he has reason to worry.

The Kremlin is lashing out at opposition leader Alexei Navalny's recent investigations of corruption, fearing they could spur public uproar. And the battle for succession threatens to cause damaging splits within Putin's inner circle.

Meanwhile, Russia's disillusioned youth could turn against him. Some have joined Navalny's protests; others just won't bother to vote, quietly sapping his power.

FILE - In this file photo taken on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, center, attends a rally in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Evgeny Feldman, File)

As Putin faces challenges at home, expect more Russian chest-thumping abroad.

"The international environment is an instrument for him in managing those domestic challenges first and foremost," said Matthew Rojansky, director of the Kennan Institute in Washington. "He can declare something like a Syria intervention or something in the post-Soviet space."

And a newly elected Putin is likely to continue the Cold War-like relationship with Trump's the United States.

FILE - In this file photo taken on Friday, Feb. 23, 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, attends a wreath-laying ceremony during the Defenders of the Fatherland Day at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

Russia sees the investigation into alleged meddling in the U.S. election as concocted — but also as a sign that Russia is important again, and that Americans are obsessed with weakening Russia at all costs.

"Does the U.S. treat Russia equally? Does it take Russia seriously? That's an enormously important benchmark" for Russians, Rojansky said. "They are not benchmarking themselves against China."

Ever since a leading U.S. diplomat was recorded giving instructions to Ukrainian opposition figures, Russians have been convinced that Washington caused the Ukraine conflict by messing in Russia's backyard and that America bears responsibility for the ensuing fighting. It has killed thousands and remains unresolved.

Russia's annexation of Crimea prompted U.S. and European Union sanctions, sending Putin's popularity skyrocketing.

Crimea is framed as Russia's biggest victory in the Putin era, a restoration of might and righting of historical wrongs. To drive the message home, the March 18 election is being held on the fourth anniversary of the takeover.

The last time Putin faced voters, he also was guaranteed victory but was on shakier ground. A movement led by Navalny had brought masses to the streets of Moscow and other cities, as the educated middle class chafed at Putin's backward-looking vision.

Since then, Navalny has been arrested repeatedly and is barred from running for president for criminal convictions that are seen as politically driven. Other opposition figures also have been sidelined, such as onetime billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who spent 10 years in prison for tax fraud charges seen as punishment for political ambitions. He now lives abroad.

Meanwhile, Russia's problems persist.

Putin has barely bothered with campaigning. When he does, he promises a brighter future, implicitly acknowledging a lackluster present.

With around 20 million Russians currently living below the official poverty line of about $180 a month, he pledges higher wages and pensions. He wants better health care to boost life expectancy from 73, several years below European levels. Recent space launch failures have drawn attention to troubles with the struggling aerospace industry, once a pillar of Soviet pride, and he wants Russia to catch up on robotic technologies and artificial intelligence.

"To put it mildly, Putin will have plenty to do in his next term," Kolesnikov said.

Notably, he must ensure that his country can outlast him.

Political scientist Dmitry Oreshkin asked, "sooner or later there will be no Putin, and at that point, what will we do with Russia?"

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian strikes killed at least eight people across Ukraine on Friday, including in a “massive” missile and drone attack near the capital, local authorities reported.

Ukrainian officials claim the Kremlin is changing its tactics to increase civilian suffering, shifting to daytime barrages and preparing to target more key infrastructure.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signaled Kyiv's openness to a potential Easter truce. The holiday is celebrated on April 12 in Ukraine and Russia.

Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine is preparing for a shift in Russian aerial tactics, with intelligence indicating that future attacks will move beyond energy infrastructure.

Russia's Defense Ministry said 192 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight across Russia and occupied Crimea.

“The Kyiv region is once again under a massive Russian missile and drone attack,” said Mykola Kalashnyk, head of the regional military administration, in a Telegram post on Friday.

Kalashnyk said one person died and at least eight others were wounded in strikes on three of Kyiv’s satellite towns — Bucha, Fastiv and Obukhiv. Earlier in the week, residents of Bucha marked the fourth anniversary of atrocities committed in the town by Russia's invading forces.

Obukhiv resident Lesia Podoriako, 37, told The Associated Press she was at work with her child when she learned her building had been struck.

“I found out about it through Telegram channels. Then all my friends and acquaintances started calling me, telling me that our building was attacked. I have no words. The main thing is that everyone is alive and healthy,” she said.

Another person was killed in Ukraine's northern Sumy region after a Russian guided aerial bomb struck an apartment block, local Gov. Oleh Hryhorov reported. Authorities in the Kherson, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions also reported casualties from Friday's attacks.

Ukrainian officials highlighted what they said were increased daytime attacks by Russia, which they said could lead to more civilian deaths. For months, Moscow pummeled Ukraine with nighttime missile and drone strikes that could involve hundreds of drones at a time.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, said in a post on X that “almost half a thousand drones and cruise missiles” attacked Ukraine overnight.

“This is how Moscow responds to Ukraine’s Easter ceasefire proposals — with brutal attacks,” Sybiha said.

Zelenskyy on Thursday signaled Kyiv's continued openness to a potential truce on Easter, which falls next week according to the Julian calendar followed by Orthodox churches in Ukraine and Russia.

Zelenskyy told reporters that the proposal had been communicated to Moscow through U.S. channels. He added that the Kremlin's response remains unclear.

Zelenskyy has previously offered a ceasefire for the Easter period — but Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that Moscow wants a lasting peace settlement, not a temporary truce.

President Vladimir Putin unilaterally declared a 30-hour ceasefire last Easter, but each side accused the other of breaking it.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said Russia was increasingly striking the country during the day, an apparent departure from months of nighttime barrages.

Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation within Ukraine's defense ministry, said that the daytime strikes aimed to “increase civilian casualties.”

“That is why the combined attack is carried out on a working day, using a large number of drones and missiles,” Kovalenko wrote on Friday in a Telegram post.

Zelenskyy told reporters on Thursday that Ukraine is preparing for Russian aerial attacks that could target water systems, logistics and other critical networks. After months of sustained strikes on power facilities, Kyiv now expects increased pressure elsewhere.

“According to intelligence documents we have received, the Russians will target logistics – railways and other infrastructure. They will also target the water supply,” Zelenskyy said at a press briefing.

Around midday on Friday, Russian forces dropped five aerial bombs on the city of Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine. At least two people were killed and three were injured, according to a Telegram update by Vadym Filashkin, who heads the regional military administration.

Elsewhere in Ukraine on Friday, a Russian drone strike damaged a bus in the southern city of Kherson, leaving the driver seriously wounded and at least eight passengers hurt, according to regional officials.

Separately, authorities reported sustained attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, beginning on Thursday and continuing into early Friday. Drone strikes near the city center caused several injuries. Two people later died in hospital, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov wrote in separate Telegram updates.

Bohdan Hladykh, head of Kharkiv’s Department of Emergency Situations, said Russia struck the city at least 20 times during the day on Thursday with explosive drones.

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy told reporters that the battlefield situation has stabilized, with recent intelligence assessments pointing to the most favorable conditions for Kyiv in months. While fighting remains intense across eastern sectors, Ukrainian forces have disrupted Russian offensives in recent weeks and regained limited ground.

“On Wednesday I received a report from our intelligence and an analysis from British intelligence. I received MI6’s assessment of the situation at the front: right now, it is the best situation for Ukraine in the past 10 months,” the Ukrainian leader said at a press briefing Thursday.

Zelenskyy added that Ukraine has invited U.S. negotiators to visit Kyiv, as part of ongoing discussions on security guarantees and a broader framework for ending the war. Recent talks have involved senior American officials as well as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, with Ukraine seeking clearer commitments on long-term defense support and responses to any future Russian aggression.

Two people were hospitalized on Friday following a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia's Leningrad region, over 1,100 kilometers (684 miles) from the border, said regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko reported, who added that the drones also set fire to an “unoccupied” building within the Morozov industrial zone.

The settlement of Morozov houses a state-owned plant that makes explosives and components for ammunition, including solid fuel used in Topol-M missile systems. The plant was put under U.S., EU and other Western sanctions following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Twelve people, including at least three Russian soldiers, were injured in a Ukrainian drone strike late Thursday on Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, local Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov reported.

Four drones were downed during the night on the approach to Moscow, mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported Friday. He did not reference any casualties or damage.

Associated Press journalists Vasilisa Stepanenko in Obukhiv and Derek Gatopoulos in Kyiv contributed.

Broken glass is seen on beds at an which was damaged after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Kriukivshchyna, Kyiv region, Ukraine, on Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A destroyed car is seen after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Vyshneve, Kyiv region, Ukraine, on Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A house is seen damaged after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Kriukivshchyna, Kyiv region, Ukraine, on Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

People walk in front of a house which was damaged after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Kriukivshchyna, Kyiv region, Ukraine, on Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

People remove broken glass from their windows after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Kriukivshchyna, Kyiv region, Ukraine, on Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

In this image made from video provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, Russian soldiers fire a grenade launcher towards Ukrainian positions on an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)