Why was the West so slow to see Putin’s true colours?

Cast your mind back just over a decade, to a charity benefit gig in St. Petersburg in 2010. Sharon Stone, Kevin Costner, Gerard Depardieu, Vincent Cassel, Goldie Hawn and Monica Belluci are in the audience. But the star-turn is performed by a man from another branch of entertainment altogether (‘show-business for ugly people’) who in a warbling voice is giving us his rendition of Fats Domino’s ‘Blueberry Hill.’ The stars clap and beam at this new addition to their ranks – the man then taking time off as president to play Russia’s prime minister and, on special occasions, chanteur to the stars: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

In this, you might argue, the celebrities are only following fashion. In 2007, Putin was named ‘Person of the Year’ by Time magazine. ‘He’s not a good guy, but he’s done extraordinary things,’ explained Time managing editor Richard Stengel, ‘…he doesn’t care about free speech; he cares about stability.