Putin surveys the map as he ponders next move on Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses during a joint news conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest February 17, 2015. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh

MOSCOW (Reuters) - In Russia, Vladimir Putin likes to portray himself as the saviour of the nation. In Europe and the United States he has come to be seen as a threat to the new world order.

What the Russian president does next in Ukraine is key to the country's future, as well as that of Europe and his own.