As Russian President Vladimir Putin opens the Winter Olympics in Sochi on February 7 , there will be relief hidden behind his characteristically guarded smile . For Putin , the past two years have witnessed a remarkable recovery . Two years ago , Putin seemed to be on the ropes . Tens of thousands of Muscovites were flooding central squares to protest a parliamentary election they said had been tarnished by massive fraud . His approval ratings were in free fall , having dropped 15 points since December 2010 , according to polls from Moscow 's Levada Center . Internationally , Putin was also on the defensive . He appeared to have isolated himself by backing the wrong horse in Syria 's civil war . As rebels closed in on the Damascus suburbs , many observers thought Syrian President Bashar al-Assad , whom Putin supported , would soon be swept from power . If so , Russia stood to lose its only Mediterranean military outpost , the naval station it leased at Tartus . The European Union , alarmed at the continent 's dependence on Russian gas , had raided offices of the Russian company Gazprom in Germany and the Czech Republic and was planning further investigations . When built , a projected EU- and U.S.-supported Nabucco pipeline threatened to pump gas from Azerbaijan to Vienna , undercutting Russian supplies . Not since the height of the global financial crisis had Putin seemed so embattled . Today , things look quite different . Over the following year , the Moscow protests died away . Putin 's ratings stabilized in the low 60s , a level many Western leaders would envy . With a mixture of new repressive laws , prosecutions and co-optation tactics , the Kremlin managed to box in and divide its domestic critics . So confident did Putin feel by mid-2013 that he could , without losing sleep , allow the opposition activist Alexei Navalny to run for mayor of Moscow ( he lost , though with an impressive 27 % ) and pardon his nemesis , the imprisoned former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky , allowing him to leave for Switzerland . Putin 's star has also risen on the international stage . In September , he persuaded al-Assad to pledge to give up his chemical weapons , saving President Barack Obama from a military intervention the U.S. leader clearly dreaded . Al-Assad looks more secure today than he has since protests against his rule began . By granting asylum to the NSA leaker Edward Snowden , Putin managed -- ironically , given Russia 's own record of secrecy and spying -- to place himself on the side of a global movement for greater transparency and respect for citizens ' privacy . One example : The New York Times , in a recent editorial , called Snowden 's revelations `` a great service '' and urged Obama to end Snowden 's vilification and offer him `` a plea bargain or some form of clemency . '' In a showdown with the EU over the future of Ukraine in November , Putin again came out on top , persuading Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to reject a trade deal with Europe to which Brussels had committed its prestige . Instead , Yanukovych pledged to deepen his country 's trade ties with Russia , prompting furious protests from pro-Europe Ukrainians . As for Gazprom , its sales of gas to Europe rose by 16 % in 2013 to a record high . The Nabucco pipeline failed to line up committed gas supplies . According to one of the consortium 's partners , as of June the project was `` over . '' Most of these successes are temporary , and time is not on the Kremlin 's side . Fighting continues to rage in Syria , and the destruction of al-Assad 's chemical weapons has been painfully slow . Ukraine will sooner or later integrate with Europe . Yanukovych is struggling to stay in power as violence flares nightly in central Kiev . Gazprom 's buoyant sales reflected an unusually cold winter in Europe . At home , the frustrations that fueled the demonstrations two years ago have not gone away , just lost a focus . A major economic deterioration could prompt a new , potentially more consequential wave of protests . Russia 's growth rate has been falling steadily , reaching just 1.4 % by the end of 2013 , the lowest rate of Putin 's years as President . And the Kremlin has no serious strategy to restart the economic engines . For now , Putin still has reason to feel confident . Even Sochi , which could have turned into a political disaster , might well pass off positively for the Kremlin . The advance bad press has lowered expectations so much that the Games will seem something of a success if they merely take place without the stadium collapsing or terrorists exploding bombs in Sochi itself . The de facto boycott by Western leaders over Russian intolerance toward gays will probably buy Putin a little support at home since most Russians share his discomfort with `` nontraditional lifestyles '' and do not like outsiders telling them what to do . In a recent poll , 73 % agreed the state should ban public displays of homosexuality . What explains this turnaround ? Putin has benefited more from luck than skill . Even without new repressive measures , the wave of demonstrations was bound to subside , following the natural ebb and flow of protest movements . Those that climax without producing leader turnover tend to lose momentum , though some might reignite months or years later . In international affairs , Putin profited from the mistakes of the West . Obama , having backed himself into a corner with talk of `` red lines '' and facing a humiliating veto in Congress , had to smile and accept help on Syria from the leader he had recently taunted for his `` slouch . '' The European Union overplayed its hand in Ukraine , insisting on terms that Yanukovich thought would damage him politically . Putin , offering a bailout with fewer visible strings attached , walked away with the Ukrainian leader 's agreement . One may debate whether the real mistake in the Snowden case was the extent of U.S. spying or the lax security that allowed Snowden to expose it . Either way , it was a U.S. blunder , which landed unexpectedly in Putin 's lap . At some point , Putin 's luck is bound to run out . Both at home and abroad , political challenges loom in 2014 . Still , as he prepares to greet and congratulate the Olympic athletes , Russia 's President is on a roll .
mid-2013 , Treisman was in trouble , with widespread protests and falling ratings . Treisman says Treisman 's fortunes have rebounded as the Sochi Olympics approach . Putin 's ratings are up and he 's had successes in international issues , Vladimir Putin says . Treisman : Putin faces economy with fading growth , and his luck could run out .