Vladimir Putin gave notice of what he was capable of in “First Person”, a transcript of interviews published in 2000
HE WARNED US. Vladimir Putin gave notice of who he was, and what he was capable of, in “First Person”, a transcript of interviews published in 2000, at the start of his overlong rule. In his youth, he recalled, he had been a tough little hoodlum who fought rats in the stairwell of his communal-apartment building and, later, brawled with strangers on the streets of Leningrad. “A dog senses when somebody is afraid of it,” he had learned, “and bites”. He prized loyalty and feared betrayal.
As Mr Putin rose without trace from St Petersburg to Moscow in the 1990s, then from the leadership of the FSB to the presidency, greyness was the main tone. Given his oxymoronic slogans, such as “managed democracy” and the “dictatorship of the law”, and his moves to neuter Russia’s media, courts, parliament and oligarchs, observers rarely mistook him for a genuine democrat.
In time writers understood that all of Mr Putin’s Russia, not just Chechnya, was ruled through power rather than by the law. As the rackets and redistribution of wealth became brazen, and the lifestyles of insiders pharaonic, greed ousted greyness as the main motif in commentary.
In “The New Tsar” , Steven Lee Myers perceptively identified the Orange revolution in Ukraine in 2004 as a breaking point. Huge protests overturned the result of an election rigged in favour of Mr Putin’s candidate. The reversal combined personal humiliation with a geopolitical rebuff; his fear of crowds, and sense of the jeopardy of democracy, were inflamed.
Mr Gaddy and Ms Hill—who became the top Russia adviser in Donald Trump’s National Security Council—concluded that he was more than an avaricious gangster. His objective was to survive and overcome his foes, who, in his view, were Russia’s enemies too; to that end he was waging a long, hybrid war against the West. He would pounce on weaknesses, the pair warned, and fulfil his threats. “He won’t give up, and he will fight dirty.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Terrifying number of critics of Vladimir Putin who died in violent or odd waysA number of high profile critics of Vladimir Putin have died in violent or mysterious circumstances. This includes Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned in London after drinking a laced cup of tea
Read more »
As Russian forces retreat, fears grow that desperate Vladimir Putin could unleash chemical weapons🔴 Reports that Russian forces are on the retreat across large parts of Ukraine will add to fears that a desperate Putin could turn to weapons of mass destruction
Read more »
Putin 'is secret owner' of mega yacht in Italy which has escaped sanctionsRussian President Vladimir Putin is said to be the secret owner of multi-million-pound mega yacht Scheherazade, which is docked in Italy, according to rival Alexei Navalny's team
Read more »