No wonder it's so difficult to imagine Russia without President Vladimir Putin: Even his most vehement opponents can't seem to offer an alternative vision for the country.
Last week, two prominent opposition figures engaged in a debate. On the liberal side was Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption crusader who has announced his candidacy in the 2018 presidential election even though he has little chance of actually being allowed to run against Putin. Against all odds, Navalny is trying to act as if Russia were a normal democracy: He has opened local campaign offices (where activists are regularly harassed and detained) and broadcasts commentary on current events from his own TV studio (where the debate took place).
On the ultra-nationalist side was Igor Girkin, aka Strelkov, the retired nationalist officer who, acting in an unofficial capacity, started the war in eastern Ukraine in 2014 — a conflict that has since claimed some 10,000 lives. After leading a successful military campaign with covert Russian help and serving as the defense minister and top commander of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, he was pushed out of his role by Kremlin emissaries who wanted more control over the pro-Russian rebels. Regarded by Ukraine as a terrorist and a war criminal, he lives and works in Moscow, where he receives a military pension. He says he has no political ambitions, but he's an iconic figure among Russia right-wingers, who feel as underrepresented as liberals in Putin's regime.