It is common knowledge in Russia that all decisions are made by one person: Vladimir Putin. This is partly true. In fact, all decisions are made by Putin. But Putin is not one person. It is a great collective mind. Dozens, even hundreds of people guess every day what decisions Putin should make. Vladimir Putin himself is guessing all the time about what decisions he must make in order to be popular, to be understood and to gain the support of “the great collective Vladimir Putin.” This is a very important myth: that everything in Russia is related to Putin, that without him everything would change and that the current image of Putin - the terrible Russian Tsar - was shaped for him, often without his participation: by courtiers, foreign partners, and journalists. This collective Vladimir Putin has been praising his memories all these years, in order to prove to himself that he is right. In order to convince himself that his actions were logical, that he had a plan and a strategy, and that he had not committed mistakes, but rather he was forced to act in this way, because he was struggling with enemies and fighting a harsh and continuous war. That's why my book is a history of an imagined war. A war that must not end, otherwise we would be forced to admit that it never existed. We have all invented a Putin character that we like. Most likely, it will not be the last character.