This is why we monitor and report on Putin's rise and his increasing control over Russia, and the nations of Asia and elsewhere in Russian periphery.. ... Tobolsk was the headquarters of Russian over Siberian expanse and functioned essentially as the capital of Russia's Asian region.. ..…

Vyachaslav Trubnikov, head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, once called him a “tool of the CIA” after he wrote an article exposing Russian intelligence operations in the Balkans. ..…