Putin’s Search for a Usable Past
When Vladimir Putin came to power at the turn of the century, he had little interest in ideas and was animated solely by money, having thrived in the gangster-land of 1990s Saint Petersburg. But since he could not cede power and still protect his wealth, he needed to find a way to “sell” his permanent rule to the people.
https://prosyn.org/hTSr0JU
SAINT PETERSBURG – Kremlin insiders like to tell the following story. In the fall of 1999, when Vladimir Putin was tapped to succeed Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s future president blurted out in surprise: “Oh, and I thought of Gazprom.” What else could a working-class Leningrad native dream about?