"A person in my position does not have the right to show weakness." – Vladimir Putin

In a press conference on Thursday, Putin seemed unfazed by Western sanctions, projecting a confidence that he has maintained since reasserting a Russian sovereignty that had not been seen since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Inaugurated as Russia president in 2000, the former KGB colonel managed to extricate the world's largest country from the turmoil of the Boris Yeltsin years following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Though Russia had been a shadow of its former glory, Putin's domestic and geopolitical maneuverings once again elevated the nation's status in the post-Cold War era.

The strongman, who had already led Russia longer than anyone except Joseph Stalin, was sworn in for a fourth term in the spring of 2018. Securing a 76.7-percent share of the vote, he skated to an easy win, extending his tenure into 2024. "Putin is Russia; Russia is Putin" has become a new slogan across the vast territory. In the eyes of most Russians, the macho leader is adept at confronting Western norms to safeguard their vital interests.

Barely a week before the election, "Putin" – a new documentary on a man who has been the subject of many – became the talk of the town. During the two-hour-long film by Andrei Kondrashev, a journalist and also the press secretary for Putin's campaign, he presented a side of Putin that previously had not made the light of day – illuminating the rough early days of his presidency, the Kursk submarine tragedy, the fight against terrorism and his family heritage.

He gave insight on his decision-making process, such as when he ordered to shoot down a passenger jet en route to the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 after receiving a call that it might be hijacked. But he later canceled the order as it proved to be a false alarm, one that had been made by a drunken passenger.

Putin also talked about his late grandfather Spiridon Putin's connection to the country's highest political echelons, noting that he "was a cook at Lenin's and later at Stalin's, at one of the dachas in the Moscow area." The film, shot in 10 months spanning across Moscow, Putin's hometown St. Petersburg, Crimea and other places, had 10 million viewers within two days. The number of views online increased by 20,000 every minute, according to Vesti News. Moreover, the sensational footage of the strongman's personal life also caused a stir far beyond the country.

The Russian president made diplomatic headway this year, showing a firm bearing on handling contentious issues with the United States. Trump and Putin had met in July during the 2018 Russia-United States summit in Finland. In a press conference afterwards, the leaders touched on Russian election meddling, conflicts in Syria and Crimea, as well as oil. U.S. media headlines were rife with anticipation, and even speculation, as domestic investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections had ratcheted up, resulting in the indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence officials.

Though the two countries have been at arms' length since the Obama administration, Trump took a softer tone during the meeting that was lambasted by politicians and intelligence officials back home. Critics said Trump did not take a hard stance concerning Russian election meddling, accusing the U.S. president of believing Putin's denial of the allegations instead of his own intelligence community. Former CIA director John Brennan, fired by Trump back in 2017, even said that Trump's performance was "nothing short of treasonous." 

Al Jazeera ran a piece titled "Putin triumphs over Trump at the U.S.-Russia summit," citing Russian officials and analysts praising the end of "Cold War 2.0" due to the U.S. president's conciliatory rhetoric. The distrust by U.S. national security also ran deep, as a soccer ball that Putin gave to Trump during the presser was screened for surveillance equipment. Meanwhile, Putin reciprocated Trump's gesture, saying he would assist with the Mueller investigation into election tampering.

All in all, the meeting did not produce any political commitments, though it was controversial in the fact that Trump had not used the leverage of the U.S. to pressure Russia on issues both nations had been at odds with.

Over 2018, Putin succeeded in ushering stability in Russia and buoying its international prominence amid domestic economic woes. Rounds of U.S. sanctions on Russian entities and individuals did not defeat him, and neither did the mounting tensions between the country and Europe following the London-Moscow row over the nerve-gas poisoning attempt of a former Russian double agent and his daughter in Britain's Salisbury.

At the four-hour-odd year-end press conference Thursday, the president talked about a host of things from Syria to the UK. He said he agreed with U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw American troops in Syria, but expressed concerns about the future situation if Washington quits the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. He wanted to restore relations with the UK and normalize ties with the United States. On the domestic front, he set an "achievable goal" for Russia – to become the world's fifth largest economy by 2021.

However, none of these are easy to realize. The Ukraine crisis, which was recently reignited, will be a perennial thorn in the Russia-West tangle. The rest of the world is also looking at how Moscow's moves in Syria will play out. Given the highest poverty rate in decade, a widened wealth gap and a dwindling middle class, cutting the number of Russians living below the poverty line in half by 2024, as he pledged, is an arduous task.

A few days before the prolonged press conference, his 2019 calendar outsold all other homegrown celebrities in Japan. The world is watching him, not just his muscular policies in the Kremlin but his personal charisma away from the powerhouse.

(Cover Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the Piskarevskoye cemetery, as he attends 75th anniversary commemorations of the lifting of the Leningrad siege, St. Petersburg, January 18, 2018. /VCG Photo)

This is the sixth article of our "World Leaders" series, which takes a look at eight people who shaped the global political discourse in 2018. These figures dominated the year's headlines through high-profile appearances and maneuvering, forging new relationships and severing old ones. We've published the profiles of Kim Jong Un, Moon Jae-in, Shinzo Abe, Angela Merkel, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the past days. Tomorrow we'll focus on Theresa May, who made herself admired if not loved through grim determination. Stay with us.