Now in power until 2036 after a recent constitutional change, Vladimir Putin is nevertheless facing a difficult future as the Russian economy stagnates and popular unrest grows. Gideon Rachman and Catherine Belton, author and former FT journalist, discuss how the president and a coterie of close aides took over the wealth of the country on the pretext of reasserting Russia's role on the world stage, but now find themselves without a succession plan. Catherine Belton's book, Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took on the West, is published by William Collins.
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