Nina Krushcheva and Jeffrey Tayler write that the key to understanding Russia`s geopolitics, its people and its leaders, are the nation`s faith and giant territory. With respect to the former, when the era of the Tatar-Mongolian rule over Russia ended in the 1470s, Moscow declared itself the Byzantine Empire`s successor, the third Rome. The Russian Orthodox Church generated what has become a major part of Russian mythology, that of Russia`s superior soul, which comprises spiritual endurance, persevering patience, belief in miracles and material sacrifice.

Russia appropriated the double -headed eagle of Byzantium which looked to both Europe and Asia, which implies an imperial destiny. Krushcheva and Tayler argue that Russia esteems despots over reformers, the former seen as strong-willed for the good of the country, the latter as weak and self interested. The desire for a “strong leader”, which most Russians appear to have, transforms itself, in a country with a de facto absence of rule of law, into a search for the good czar.

Putin knows that Russians expect God-like status for their rulers, hence the glorified rituals in the Kremlin, though Putin, in deference to contemporary tastes, projects a James Bond image as well.