#Coronavirus is colliding with Putin's carefully manufactured image of an omnipotent, all-knowing czar. In a #WorkFromDacha video chat today w regional leaders, Putin (who famously disdains computers/Internet) repeatedly pleads with them to follow his directives. 1/X 
This is hardly the first time Putin has been behind the curve during a crisis. If anything that sluggishness has been a hallmark of his 20 year tenure (cf. Ukrainian street revolutions in 2004/2014, the sinking of the Kursk nuclear sub in 2000, etc., etc.) 2/X
What's striking about today's Putin video meeting with regional leaders is not the technocratic stuff that's understandably at the heart of the Kremlin's response (surveillance of the epidemic's spread, inventories of hospitals/beds/ventilators etc) 3/X
Rather, what we see is Putin, just like a 18th/19th century czar, pleading w subordinates who in theory are totally beholden to him, to take his requests seriously. Putin literally says, It's not enough for you guys to send me paper reports. 4/X en.kremlin.ru/events/preside…
Obv better late than never. Putin's belated role on crisis management is, warts and all, better than the alternative. But his aloofness from day to day governing has long been an open secret. Hard to imagine he is relishing this crisis as much as post-2014 rupture w the West END
