Staunton, July 29 - Vladimir Putin has done so much harm to Russia that the only possible conclusion is that he is an agent of Western special services, a charge that recalls those made by Soviet loyalists against Mikhail Gorbachev (charter97.org/ru/news/2017/7/27/257752/).

Meanwhile, Willilam Browder, the founder of Renaissance Capital and the man behind the Magnitsky Act, suggests that Putin is “the richest man in the world” with a net worth of perhaps 200 billion US dollars (echo.msk.ru/news/2026742-echo.html). Putin is certainly wealth and he has helped his friends to great wealth as well: this week it came out that he had made a dollar billionaire of the man who supervised his kandidat dissertation (znak.com/2017-024/rektor_universiteta_gde_zachichal_dissertaciyu_putin_okazalsya_dollarovym_milliarderom).

But Putin seems to be losing it in some ways, denying the obvious – there is no censorship of any kind in Russia, the Kremlin leader says, or confusing the figures about the growth or decline of the Russian population (echo.msk.ru/blog/echomsk/2023044-echo/ and newsland.com/community/4765/content/putin-pereputal-prirost-naseleniia-rossii-s-ego-ubyliu-ili-bednaia-geografichka/5924883). He did reveal his KGB name – Platov (newsland.com/community/politic/content/putin-raskryl-svoi-psevdonim-kotorym-polzovalsia-v-razvedshkole/5924801) – and said he maintains his equilibrium by remaining on Moscow time even when he travels (kp.ru/daily/26705.7/3733249/).

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