Vasily Vlasov—Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s personal assistant and protégé—has already had a dizzying political career at the age of 21. He is the youngest Duma deputy in history and heads the youth wing of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, which acts as the “official opposition” in Putin’s authoritarian state. Confident and outspoken, he can explain away his boss’s most embarrassing antics without batting an eye. And yet he allowed himself to be approached by Katya Fedulova, who, using him as an example, exposes the void that fills the corridors of power in today’s Russia.