This was more or less the path followed by other tinpot dictators like Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Joseph Mobutu, Suharto, Juan Peron, etc: do some good for your country and people to build trust, but then give yourself absolute power and rob your subjects blind once you have it.
Spot on. I have long thought of Putin as a tin pot Czar. His behavior fits right in with the rest of that crew.
Putin resembles Saddam, Amin, Suharto, Peron, etc. in another way: all of them initially presented a facade of being reasonable and pragmatic leaders who the US and other western nations could work with, and to prove their point, they partnered with US/Western interests in certain scenarios. Just like their initial gestures of goodwill at home (infrastructure investments, etc), this was all part of the plan to consolidate power, after which the beneficence at home and cooperation abroad would evaporate.