Vladimir Putin seemed to have come from nowhere when he succeeded the ailing and incompetent Boris Yeltsin as President of Russia in March 2000. It was as if he had taken the Kremlin by stealth - perhaps, it was whispered, using the skills he acquired as a senior agent in the KGB. In fact, Putin's rise to prominence owes more to a combination of canny manoeuvring and blat, the traditional Russian system of cronyism and patronage. PUTIN'S PROGRESS is the first comprehensive exploration in English of Putin's character and offers many insights into his likely legacy, shedding new light on one of the most enigmatic of modern leaders and what it means to live in Putin's Russia.