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Article Excerpt
VLADIMIR PUTIN CONFRONTED A STAGGERING ARRAY OF PROBLEMS when he became interim president of Russia on January 1, 2000. "Russia," he noted, "is in the midst of one of the most difficult periods in its history. For the first time in the past 200-300 years, it is facing a real threat of sliding into the second, and possibly even third echelon of world states" (Putin, 2000). The country's economy was in shambles, its political system in chaos, and its social and moral structure in an advanced state of decay. To make matters worse, Putin was virtually unknown, both in Russia and abroad. A former KGB officer, he had returned to his native Leningrad from a KGB assignment in East Germany to become an assistant to Anatoly Sobchak, his former professor, at Leningrad State University. Only a few years later, the obscure Putin was the country's president.
In 2008, Putin left the presidency in accordance with the constitution, which forbids more than two consecutive periods in office. He has now become prime minister. While the nature of his relationship with the new president, Dmitry Medvedev, remains a question mark to Russians as well as outsiders, Putin's eight years in the presidency is certainly certainly long enough to provide us with enough material to begin to make suggestions concerning his contributions to postcommunist Russia. First, to what degree was he and his regime successful (or unsuccessful) in dealing with Russia's problems? Second, and perhaps even more important, where did he lead the country?. What were his goals for Russia, or did he even know where he was taking the country?. Before we attempt to shed light on these questions, however, let us take a closer look at this man who tried to rebuild Russia internally while at the same time working to regain the international prestige the country lost under President Boris Yeltsin.
PUTIN, THE MAN
The published facts about Putin's career are sketchy, but the following discussion will at least permit the reader to understand the major events that influenced his life. (1) Putin was born in 1952 in what was then Leningrad (now again St. Petersburg). While in school, he was trained in judo and in 1974 became the Leningrad city champion. In his autobiography he credits judo as the turning point in his life. "If I hadn't gotten involved in sports, I'm not sure how my life would have turned out. It was sports that dragged me off the streets" (Putin et al., 2000: 19). His lifelong dream was to become a member of the KGB. Indeed, he recalls going to the local KGB office while still in high school and telling a somewhat startled officer, "I want to get a job with you" (23). He was advised instead to attend the university and study law.
After graduating from Leningrad State University in 1975 with a degree in law, Putin applied again to the KGB, this time successfully. He was sent to Moscow for initial training and was then assigned to foreign intelligence in Leningrad, where he spent the majority of his time spying on foreigners and Russians who had contacts with them. He studied German and was eventually posted in Dresden in the German Democratic Republic, where he and his wife spent five years and their two daughters were born. This was also where he perfected his German. Putin was no natural in the world of espionage, but he learned the craft quickly and effectively, according to one German agent he controlled (Franchetti, 2001).
In 1989, Putin returned to Russia and became head of the Foreign Section (Inotdel) at Leningrad State University. In that capacity he served as an assistant for international affairs to his former law professor, Anatoly Sobchak, who was the university's rector. A year later Sobchak, who had become a major force in Leningrad politics, asked Putin to move to city hall as his advisor on international affairs. In 1991, Sobchak became Leningrad's mayor and appointed Putin chairman of the city's foreign relations committee. It was not long before Sobchak gave him responsibility for a number of reform programs, including foreign investments, where Putin impressed those who dealt with him as a man who could get things done. (2) Indeed, it was during his time in St. Petersburg that he made his reputation as an outstanding administrator.
In 1996 Sobchak failed in his bid for reelection amid charges of corruption, and it appeared that Putin's post-KGB career was at an end. Having heard of Putin's reputation as a "doer," however, Anatoly Chubais, a well-connected adviser to Yeltsin, got him a job working with Pavel Borodin, who was head of Yeltsin's staff (Bortsov, 2001: 132). Yeltsin took notice of Putin, and in the tumultuous administrative upheavals of the Russian executive in 1998, he was appointed first deputy head of the presidential administration in charge of relations with the regions, and later that year, head of the Federal Security Service (the successor to the KGB), a move he claimed made him unhappy because of the secretive life it would entail. "It put you in a constant state of tension. All the papers are secret. This isn't allowed, that isn't allowed" (Putin et al., 2000: 131). Shortly thereafter, he was put in control of the body that coordinated all of Russia's security and intelligence ministries. Not bad for a former KGB lieutenant colonel!
On August 9,1999, the ailing Yeltsin surprised the world by appointing Putin as his prime minister and designated successor. On December 31, Yeltsin again astonished everyone by resigning and making Putin Russia's acting president. Yeltsin knew his time was limited and wanted to ensure his protegee had the best possible chance to win the forthcoming presidential elections. On March 26, 2000, Putin stood for election and won over 52 percent of the vote in the first round--enough to avoid a runoff. He became Russia's second elected president.
PUTIN'S APPROACH TO POLITICS
Perhaps because of his KGB background, Putin gave the impression that he believed that even the most difficult problem could be resolved, provided the decisionmaker followed through and took personal responsibility for the outcome. In short, his past experience made him into a dedicated problem solver. Sobchak called him a "determined, even stubborn young man" (O'Neil et al., 2000). Once he made up his mind--whether it was to be a judo champion, a KGB officer, or a presidential aide--his bosses could rely on him to see a problem through. Graham Humes, who dealt with Putin while Humes was director general of CARESBAC, an international humanitarian organization in St. Petersburg associated with CARE, spoke of the important role Putin played in the city. "He overcame one bureaucratic obstacle after another to ensure that humanitarian aid from abroad was delivered in a timely and fair manner" (Humes, 2000). Putin faced a different challenge during his tenure in charge of regional affairs in dealing with the country's regional governors while working for Yeltsin. The latter, who had given the governors considerable autonomy in return for their support, was concerned about their tendency to side with former Russian prime minister, Yevgeny Primakov, and the mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, in the battle for political power. Yeltsin asked Putin to break up this budding alliance. Putin agreed. In a short time, the governors had become more neutral when it came to power struggles in Moscow (Gessen, 2000: 23).
Once he became president, Putin set about to rebuild the Russian state. "Putin believed in strong and effective government. He also believed in strong leadership, especially his own. He was in favor of democracy, but the coherence of the state in his mind was more important" (Sakwa, 2008: 301). Toward this end, he created seven federal districts (or super-regions) that were headed by presidential envoys--whose job...
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