Putin has been effective in eliminating his political enemies and consolidating his power, but his partial turn back to communism (by now 70% of Russian economy is state controlled) has been terrible for the economy and it begins to show.
He is using aggressive posturing to distract Russians from their economic woes, but that can be very dangerous if Russian economy continues to deteriorate. He might choose to do some seriously harsh things like stepping up his war against Ukraine to send Russians into a war frenzy and stop questioning why they are so poor if Putin is so smart as the TV tells them.
I know your reply is to Strac6, but like to say that you’re correct on a couple of things, not others. At any rate, this type of argument requires context, and can apply to USA too.
Best starting point, imo, is Russia and USA are rivals or competitors (think someone said as much already, in this thread too).