section_path: Political history/2001 – present/Russia
section_name: Russia
paragraph_text: Russia
  
  Vladimir Putin, Yeltsin's successor, was very popular in Russia after his victory in the Second Chechen War. He portrayed himself as a corruption fighter initially, checking Russian oligarchs who had acquired vast wealth during Russia's liberalization period. With a combination of genuine popularity and legal rollbacks, Russia gradually moved toward being a one-party state, a democracy but one where Putin's party always won. Russia has since intervened in a variety of military conflicts in its neighboring countries including the 2008 Russo-Georgian War; the 2014 Russo-Ukrainian War and Annexation of Crimea; a 2015 intervention in the Syrian Civil War; and the expansion of the Russo-Ukrainian War to the full-fledged Russian invasion of Ukraine where Russia declared their intent to depose the Ukrainian government and install a compliant, Russia-friendly government. The Russian government has often cited the enlargement of NATO as a major complaint.