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Putin’s wealth is hidden really well. There are layers and layers between his assets. It requires a whole understanding of who has been serving as proxies for people close to the regime. Maira Martini, Transparency International
How did we get to the place where, you know, Putin decides he’s gonna just invade Russia? Joe Biden
Putin sought to keep Ukraine weak through corruption. Joe Biden
Vladimir Putin, whose power in reality was becoming increasingly fragile at home in Russia, became in the eyes of the West a dark malevolent force, which made him seem far stronger than he really was. Adam Curtis, Can’t Get You Out of My Head VI Are We a Pigeon? Or Are We Dancer? ***** BBC 2021
We’ve been saying Putin is a dictator for years who doesn’t care about the law. Garry Kasparov
We defended our great Soviet motherland and kept our independence. We are used to winning. It is in our blood. It is not just the way to win wars. In peacetime it will also help us. Vladimir Putin
In 1995, Russia virtually gave Chechnya de facto statehood and independence even though, de jure, it didn’t recognize Chechnya as an independent state. And I would like to emphasize strongly that Russia withdrew all of its troops, we moved the prosecutors, we moved all the police, dismantled all the courts, completely, one hundred per cent. Vladimir Putin
We shall fight against them, throw them in prisons and destroy them. Vladimir Putin
Putin knew of terror bombings. Times online article March 2003
For over a decade Vladimir Putin has been the undisputed master of Russia. But after claims he fixed parliamentary elections, tens of thousands of middle-class Russians took to the streets demanding his resignation. Putin, Russia and the West I: Taking Control, BBC 2011
It began in 1999. Russian president Boris Yeltsin was desperate to fill a key post. His eyes fell on his intelligence chief. ibid.
As soon as Yeltsin resigned, Putin became president. ibid.
The oligarchs, Putin thought, had been cut out of politics. ibid.
The Cold War was over but distrust still lingered. ibid.
Putin opened the door to a remarkable period of cooperation with the West. ibid.
The United States since 9/11 backed Putin over Chechnya. ibid.
The Russian government released video of a fake rock which they said was being used by British spies in Russia. Putin, Russia and the West II: Democracy Threatens
US Special forces arrived in Georgia. They helped expel the Chechens. ibid.
[Mikheil] Saakashvili, said he would make Georgia a member of Nato. ibid.
Yushchenko was gravely ill. He was flown to a private clinic in Vienna where he was found to have been poisoned by a huge dose of dioxin. ibid.
Ukraine Supreme Court 3 December 2004: The Supreme Court of Ukraine considers it necessary to remedy the violation of rights by holding a re-run of the Presidential elections. ibid.
Yushchenko won the re-run decisively. ibid.
Washington received Yushchenko like a hero. ibid.
The more Washington supported democracy on Russia’s borders, the more dictatorial Putin became. He changed the election rules. ibid.
Four years earlier George Bush said he’d got a sense of Putin’s soul. Now he wasn’t so sure. ibid.
In private Bush accepted none of this. ibid.
President Bush continued to preach his freedom agenda. ibid.
The atmosphere in Russia turned uglier. Nationalist gangs beat up migrant workers. ibid.
‘If I go back to Russia, I won’t live long. Better to die in England in the fresh air.’ ibid. Litvinenko
[Alexander] Litvenyenko became a British citizen. Ten days later he was poisoned with radioactive polonium. ibid.
In the summer of 2008 Russia was at war with America’s ally Georgia. Putin, Russia & the West III: War
Putin was determined to stop America encroaching on its other borders. ibid.
Georgians and separatists shelled each other. ibid.
Russian forces were already pushing the Georgian forces back in South Ossetia. Their air force now set out to destroy Georgia’s defences and targeted the capital itself. On the second day of the war they flew 120 bombing sorties. ibid.
Russian forces were now deep inside Georgia. ibid.
Standing alone was a price Russia was prepared to pay. ibid.
The 5th December deadline passed. There was no bridging agreement so the two sides no longer had the right to inspect each other’s sites. Putin, Russia & the West IV: New Start
Medvedev cancelled the billion dollar [Iranian] arms deal. ibid.
What Medvedev could do was tackle the corruption that flourished under Putin. ibid.
The protests moved to the streets. The ruling party had been declared winners in parliamentary elections. Well documented accusations of fraud were brushed aside. ibid.
He could now remain in office until 2024. ibid.
Vladimir Putin has suffocated Russian civil society and neutered the press. Evan Osnos
Putin probably, almost certainly, thinks that one of the great disasters of the 20th century was the demise of the Soviet Union. It’s very obvious that he’s trying to work his way back and maintain something similar to that sort of institution. Alan Greenspan
Those organised-crime bosses who survived the 1990s settled well into Putin’s Russia. Several have Interpol red notices on them, wanted for crimes committed in Western Europe or the United States, but the government in Moscow shows no inclination to extradite them. Misha Glenny, McMafia
He [Putin] has fashioned a novel system that brings together aspects of capitalism and Soviet socialism – market authoritarianism. The oligarchs’ desperate attempts to portray Putin has the new Stalin seek to conceal the primary responsibility they bear for the mess in which they and Russia find themselves. ibid.
In the 1990s, the oligarchs and gangsters quite clearly controlled the Kremlin. Under Vladimir Putin, who systematically used popular hostility to the oligarchs to strengthen his political position as President, the situation was reversed. It does not follow that Putin and friends persecuted criminals or dispensed with corrupt practices. On the contrary, they flourished as before but they were now much more carefully controlled. ibid.
He’s the world leader accused of personally approving murder on the streets of London. But is the president implicated in an assassination also responsible for theft on an extraordinary scale? Vladimir Putin has been accused of looting his own country. Panorama: Putin’s Secret Riches, BBC 2016
Action man, man of the people, and ruler of Russia: from the Ukraine to Syria Vladimir Putin’s influence is being felt. He’s faced countless accusations of corruption but still has record approval ratings in Russia. But should the Russian people trust Vladimir Putin? ibid.
So how rich is Vladimir Putin? … One journalist came up with a figure … ‘$40 billion.’ ibid.
Abramovich … He provided $203 million [for healthcare, re-rooted to Putin’s palace] … A gift that can be explained away; a $35 million yacht [2002] … The yacht was given to an offshore company: but the real owner is Vladimir Putin. ibid.
You can hardly blame Abramovich for wanting to keep on Putin’s good side. ibid.
Putin controls the super-rich in Russia. ibid.