"Putin's Coup " argues that Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, has been strengthening his military, security and intelligence networks, cracking down on his political opponents, businessmen, and the media. The war on Crimea, it asserts, was a hard handed method for Putin to consolidate his power as Russia's unopposed leader. Interestingly, the writer of the article substantiates his views by presenting a Pole's opposition to Russia's military actions in Crimea, quoting Radek Sikorski, a former foreign minister of Poland. With his antagonistic tone, the writer has presented a one-sided, anti-Russia opposition to the war, as well as an over-simplification of Ukraine's relations with Russia. .
The provenance of the source is politico.com, based on Politico, an American political journalism organization which distributes the print version for free at Manhattan and Washington DC. This seems to indicate an alignment towards the political stance of opposing alternative forms of government, and in particular, Russia, a rival to the US. The writer, Ben Judah, wrote the book "Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell In and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin". Publishing such a strongly-worded article could drum up media attention and promote his book. On the Ukraine crisis, the writer quoted Sikorski's speculation that former Ukraine President Yanukovych rejected the then pending EU association agreement because Putin personally blackmailed him on his corrupt practices and threatened to seize Crimea. The speculation cannot be proven, and its inclusion in the article adds to its attempt at increasing the believability of conspiracies regarding Putin's supposed underhand means to control the politics of Ukraine. .
The writer uses Russia's occupation of Crimea to illustrate Putin's quest to consolidate power in the Kremlin. However, Russia's designs to add Ukraine into its sphere of influence have long existed before Putin; Putin has merely inherited and continued such a notion.
