Vladimir Putin cut an almost forlorn figure, standing alone at the foot of the Kremlin steps in the pouring rain to watch a march past marking his inauguration as Russian president for a fifth term. His seeming isolation, however, belied his grip over Russia, now stronger than ever despite the disaster of the Ukraine invasion.

His control has been likened to that of a tsar, but he increasingly resembles Stalin in the way he has removed all opposition and rivals. It is more than 24 years since he first assumed the presidency, aged just 47, with promises to promote democracy. He foresaw Russia as “free, prosperous, strong and civilised, a country that its citizens are proud of and is respected internationally”.

Today, it is none of those. Any pretence to freedom has long since gone, the economy has tanked, the Russian army’s murderous assaults on civilians in Ukraine removes all claims to civilised behaviour, and it is isolated from its closest European neighbours.

There was a time when we hoped to see an end to Russia’s distrust of countries to its west, a paranoia not entirely unjustified given the history of invasion over the centuries. Putin even joined the comity of industrialised nations, turning the G7 into the G8.

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The illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 put paid to that experiment and served to reinforce the national delusion that everyone was out to get Russia, a myth cultivated by Putin to underpin his power. He subsequently altered the Russian constitution to run for the presidency for two further six-year terms and he can potentially remain in office until 2036, by which time he will be 83. His election victory in March with almost 90 per cent of the vote was widely considered fraudulent.

President Putin used his inaugural address, largely boycotted by Western countries, to insist that Russia’s forces will be victorious in Ukraine, whatever the cost. Two years ago, when his armies were pushed back from their assault on Kyiv, there was talk of a coup against him, but he appears to have consolidated his power even as the war has turned into a bloodbath.

Yulia Navalnaya, widow of his principal opponent Alexei Navalny, who died mysteriously in prison before the election, said Russia was doomed to remain in a state of conflict so long as Putin stayed in power. Sadly, that looks likely to be a lot longer than many once imagined.