Putin: tactician, strategist or player of political Tetris?

Just a quick note: I have a largely-but-not-wholly serious piece on VVP and his travails in the NYU Jordan Center All The Russias blog, Putin: the man who arranges the blocks. Is this man a tactician rather than a strategist, and does he have some sense that his once-impregnable fortress might be beginning to crumble…?