Vladimir Putin has never been a fan of a free press or open public debates, but the Ukraine crisis has provided the Kremlin with a new favorite target for cracking down even more harshly on political expression: cyberspace.
Vladimir Putin’s third term as Russia’s president had already been marked by clear signs of his intention to reassert his country as a world power before his move to annex Crimea. But whatever impact the latest events have on international opinion about Putin, views about him in the U.S. and allied countries had already turned negative compared to his first took office in 2000.