WASHINGTON, May 16 -- The Center for European Policy Analysis issued the following commentary on May 15, 2026, by Walter Clemens, associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University and a professor emeritus of political science at Boston University: * * * Putin's Contradictions Have a Poetic Precedent The writings of a 19th Century Russian poet can help explain the shifting sands of Vladimir Putin's relationship with the West. * After the fall of the USSR in 1991, some Western and former Soviet leaders want more PR