Western experts have been claiming ‘Russia is a normal country’ for a generation or more, ever since Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000. In fact, normalising Russia grew into a massive and high-profile endeavour, an intellectual effort equivalent to the Marshall Plan.
How wrong can you be?
The reality in Russia was different on many levels. During the past decade in particular, the Russian state has overseen a multidimensional crisis – political, ecological, moral, medical and, most visibly, demographic.
