As Vladimir Putin persists in his bloody campaign to conquer Ukraine, the Russian leader is directing an equally momentous transformation at home \u2014 re-engineering his country into a regressive, militarized society that views the West as its mortal enemy.<\/p>\n
Putin\u2019s inauguration on Tuesday for a fifth term will not only mark his 25-year-long grip on power but also showcase Russia\u2019s shift into what pro-Kremlin commentators call a \u201crevolutionary power,\u201d set on upending the global order, making its own rules, and demanding that totalitarian autocracy be respected as a legitimate alternative to democracy in a world redivided by big powers into spheres of influence.<\/p>\n
\u201cRussians live in a wholly new reality,\u201d Dmitri Trenin, a pro-Kremlin analyst, wrote in reply to questions about an essay in which he argued that Russia\u2019s anti-Western shift was \u201cmore radical and far-reaching\u201d than anything anticipated when Putin invaded Ukraine but also \u201ca relatively minor element of the wider transformation which is going on in Russia\u2019s economy, polity, society, culture, values, and spiritual and intellectual life.\u201d<\/p>\n