The Putin Files

Putin’s Vision for Russia in his First Term

Putin began his presidency by crafting an image for himself as a vigorous and modern politician, committed to restoring Russia’s international prestige and power. Despite coming to power as an avowed democrat, one of his first moves in office was to tame Russia’s newly vibrant media landscape. While his relations with President Clinton were mutually wary, Putin sought to cultivate a better partnership with President George W. Bush, who ended their first meeting by saying he’d seen the “soul” of the new Russian president.
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Highlights From This Theme

“Putin saw how we played mass media. He saw what was happening in the newspapers, TV channels, radio stations, even Internet. It was one big keyboard...”

Gleb Pavlovsky

Former adviser to Vladimir Putin

“There was a sense—and this was solidified during the famous Bush-Putin meeting in Slovenia in June 2001—that you could do business with Putin...”

Daniel Fried

National Security Council, 2001-05

“People saw this—many did—as a choice between democracy and order, and somehow see these two as mutually exclusive.”

Masha Lipman

Russian journalist

“We should have been more concerned, and we should have asked ourselves a question: What is happening in the country? What are we doing?”

Gennady Gudkov

Opposition politician

“The ’90s—we were really in ruins, social and economical ruins. As a politician at that time, I spent maybe 90 percent of my life at that period to help people in my region just to have enough meals...”

Andrei Klimov

Russian Senate

“That was a clear message of, 'Don’t do this. If you're going to do this, this is what's going to happen to you,'”

Vladimir Kara-Murza

Opposition politician

“They said: 'That’s great. If under democracy we lived very poorly, and under authoritarianism we are living well, long live authoritarianism. Long live strong hand. Long live Mr. Putin.'”

Vladimir Ryzhkov

Opposition politician

“When you know that after you shut down the TV channel, your life becomes so much more comfortable, you know that the next time you should do the same. That's the appetite that comes when you're eating.”

Mikhail Zygar

Author, "All the Kremlin’s Men"

“He more or less laid out the path that he was going to be taking, which was to reduce democracy, to consolidate authority back into the Kremlin.”

Susan Glasser

Co-author, "Kremlin Rising"

“Putin made it clear to businessmen that if they want to be well and free and alive, they should abstain from providing any money to any political parties, any media, anything, without consensus...”

Yevgenia Albats

Russian journalist

“Once Russia lost an independent NTV, it became a different country.”

John Beyrle

U.S. ambassador to Russia, 2008-12

“Mr. Yeltsin was not convinced he was a democrat, but hoped he could become one...”

James Collins

U.S. ambassador to Russia, 1997-2001

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