The Globe: The Promise and Peril of Russia’s Resurgent State

In Saint Petersburg’s Senate Square stands a statue of Peter the Great, facing west. On a huge piece of red granite carved into the shape of a cliff, the Russian czar rides a horse whose hind legs are trampling a snake, representing the opponents of Peter’s reforms and his enemies. More than 200 years after it was unveiled, the Bronze Horseman aptly symbolizes the challenges facing Russia and another reformer leader, Vladimir Putin.