This article examines post-Soviet Russia through the prism of elite theory – in contrast to themajority of Western scholars who analyze Russia through the lens of democratic theory. Vladimir Putin isa strong leader who has restored the authority of the Russian state, but the elites through which he rules Russiaare deeply divided. The elite consists of Putin’s inner circle, the security bloc, the oligarchs, and the statebureaucrats. There are few institutional mechanisms for resolving elite differences, and the ideologies whichthey deploy (modernization, nationalism) are contradictory and shallow. This paper analyzes the capacity of this system to respond to the challenges facing Russia, and its prospects for long-term stability.