Oh sure, friend. Not a puppet, not a puppet. He's stubborn for Russian fossil fuels, held up Sweden's entry into NATO, and curried a thousand other favors, but they were all just meetings of the minds. /s

Same goes for Lukashenko, Maduro, and Vučić, or for Farage, Weidel, and all the other nice folk who used to poll sub-5% before Russia's troll army started peddling their sewage. The only thing less likely than you convincing me that he isn't would be me convincing you that he is, considering that you hopped onto this thread for this argument.

You can invest your belief in whatever caricatures you want. I see no need to convince you of anything.