![Cover for: Underneath Putin's ratings](https://www.eurozine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/cbc793d36c27c10db9f64eb5146f2d68.jpg)
An insidious obsession with ratings and the suppression of the opposition: this is all that Vladimir Putin’s rule hinges on now, writes Boris Dubin. However, right up until his recent death, the Russian sociologist continued to combine keen insights into Russia’s rotten political culture with a plea for a new, enlightened historical consciousness.
Boris Dubin died on 20 August 2014. This is the last article he wrote.