The Putin Files

Putin Asserts Himself on the World Stage in his Third Term

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi were meant to be a victory for Putin and a sign of Russia’s resurgence. But the moment was marred by protests in neighboring Ukraine, where popular opinion favored closer ties to the West. After protesters defied efforts to remove them from Kiev’s main square, and drove the Moscow-allied president from power, Putin hit back, seizing and annexing the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, sending more troops into eastern Ukraine and launching a sophisticated array of cyberattacks and information warfare.
About this project

Highlights From This Theme

“We realized that we were in an information war, not a physical military confrontation, but an information war, and we spent an amazing amount of time trying to figure out how to fight it...”

Antony Blinken

Obama adviser, 2009-15

“Crimea became ours without our sacrificing anything, not at the time. And all of that converged to this very major support of “Crimea is ours.”...”

Masha Lipman

Russian journalist

“How do you deter behavior when the other side is basically denying that it’s even taking place?”

Jake Sullivan

Chief policy adviser, Clinton campaign

“You know what I think? Probably 2014 was a little bit late in trying to draw the line against Vladimir Putin.”

Vladimir Kara-Murza

Opposition politician

“It almost became a 'prove how tough you are' debate, as opposed to 'What do Ukrainians really need?' debate.”

Celeste Wallander

Obama administration, 2009-17

“I remember being on the schoolyards of New Jersey, when I grew up, and bullies try to intimidate, and they keep moving forward unless they get their nose bloodied a little bit.”

John Brennan

CIA Director, 2013-17

“What Putin was able to do was translate a big lie that Russia wasn’t behind any of this.”

William Burns

U.S. ambassador to Russia, 2005-08

“I knew when we were having the phone call on an open line that Russian intelligence was likely listening.”

Victoria Nuland

U.S. ambassador to NATO, 2005-08

Support Provided By