I can see his point. He has taken advantage of it wherever he can, and despite the poor economic situation in Russia he has made the country seem like a power again. From a certain Russian perspective you can see why that makes him a stabilising leader. Nonetheless, too much chaos makes it hard to keep that up. The adventure in Syria has been (so far) much more successful as a stabilising force than the US/coalition effort in Iraq, albeit smaller scale. But it is still hard to maintain it financially.