Due to my semi-fluent Russian (heritage from the old times) I can assess the depths of Russian politics to a certain extent.. I am not sure what you guys have been told about Putin, but IMHO the guy is very similar to Donald Trump.. a master chess player, very intelligent and strategy-oriented, surrounded by enemies from outside and within - oligarchy/deep state with roots into every aspect of domestic politics (especially Medvedev, Rogozin and their clique).. he is being backed by a chosen few patriots (Lavrov being especially notable) and large parts of military.. If you know Trump, you know Putin.. their goals might differ on the national level, but in the global scale they are very identical.. if those two are not (secretly) allied, then I don't know who else could be..