Vladimir Putin is preparing to win for the fifth time in a presidential election. Frida Ghitis: Putin, the leader whom the West courted, perpetuates the dictatorship of an increasingly warlike Russia.
She says Putin imposed his law with an iron fist and became for some the model to follow in the face of the supposed decline of democracies.Ghitis: The first man who could have defeated Putin decided not to run in the 2000 elections. He was Alexander Lébed, the general who signed peace in the first Chechen war.