Putin's People, as summarized by a Millennial
My two cents: Worth a read to get a sense of a powerful player in today's world order.
TLDR
During the USSR era, the KGB was a main controlling power of the economy. In the 1990s, a group of wealthy elite started seizing power away from the KGB. In response, the KGB nurtured and rose to power an incredibly loyal member, Vladimir Putin. Putin has helped the FSB regain its grip over Russian society through the erosion of democracy — seizing control of media and other industries, all while launching into a profound anti-West propaganda campaign.
Putin was an eager KGB beaver
His dad was in the KGB, and he was so eager to join that he tried to enroll before he'd graduated school. In 1985 he packed his bags and moved to Dresden, East Germany.
The Communist Party + KGB dream team had a run for its money
Then came Yeltsin. Upon taking office, he abolished the KGB — but really it was more of a re-org, like when Google Glass went bust and people were just reshuffled. Boris issued pro-democracy reforms. In reality, it set the stage for a small group of Oligarchs to rise in power.
Create a crisis, become the savior
During his reign as Prime Minister, three devastating bombings took hundreds of lives across apartment complexes in Russia. Putin rose to say, "I will stop this terror!" The irony is that it's very likely he orchestrated those bombings. Straight out of How To Become a Dictator 101. Create some dangerous crisis, unite people against some enemy, and you are the holy leader.
Take the media, take the oil
One by one, Putin took over the assets of oil tycoons with sometimes real, mostly ludicrously fake, claims of corruption. The public saw headlines that read, "Putin takes down evil oil baron." By continuing to exploit narratives of terrorism and "rich people are evil," Putin gained the love of the masses.
Topple the oligarchy, become the monarch
The last few chapters talk about his systematic infiltration of the London banking system, trying to annex Ukraine, and finding a true comrade in Trump.
The gist: he's a smart cookie. Don't try to eat it though — it's baked with knives and arsenic.