Putin, a criminal and incompetent president, is an enemy of his own people | Simon Tisdall

The Russian president has manipulated the levers of power to rule in perpetuity. That prospect is terrible for the west - and Russia News that Vladimir Putin, Russia's latter-day tsar, is making plans to cling to power indefinitely comes as no surprise. All the same, it is deeply worrying for Putin's prey - principally the Russian people and the western democracies. Putin, 67, has run Russia, as president and prime minister, for 21 years, a feat of political longevity surpassed only by Joseph St...