If you know most of what I've said, then you know that indicates Putin doesn't have an iron grip on anything. That's the kind of Russian propaganda that's had the West tiptoeing fearfully around for decades. Putin is terrified of everything, from missiles to germs to his next in command, his government is falling apart with knives out, and the levels of security he attempts to surround himself with is an indication of the level of his own insecurity. The country is an failing gas station with a whipped, impoverished population 30% of whom have never seen an indoor toilet.