RUSN 2160, POSTCOMMUNIST RUSSIA 4 February 2016

Review of chapter 1 in Mr. Putin, Operative in the Kremlin

Opening scene of the chapter 14 March 2014 public address on the annexation of Crimea

Olympic Russian historyhistory

Sochi from the 1990s

American journalist’s 1990s impression

Thesis of the book This is the essence of our approach in this book. The book is an effort to figure out who Mr. Putin is in terms of his motivations—what drives him to act as he does. Rather than present a chronicle of events in which Mr. Putin plays a role, we concentrate on events that shaped him. We look at formative experiences of Putin’s past. And where we do examine his actions, we focus on the circumstances in which he acted. Our reasoning is that if Putin’s actions and words differed during the crisis in Ukraine in 2014 from what we might have expected in the past, it is likely that the circumstances changed (5-6).

The elusive nature of facts Comparison of the amount of biographical information available on Western leaders and the dearth of information on Vladimir Putin. Kremlin’s practice of manipulating facts about the president.

The Putin biography Leningrad childhood Leningrad State University KGB service, including in East Germany Return to the USSR in 1990 University administration Leningrad city government Moved to Moscow in 1996 Service in Kremlin office Appointed president in 1999 Reelected in 2000, 2004, and 2012

Main question Who brought Vladimir Putin to the presidency (10)? Authors’ answer is that Putin made his own way (11). Doubtful stories about his personal wealth (10-12) and lack of fear (12-13) derive from other arguments the authors dispense with (e.g., Masha Gessen thesis about Putin’s pleonexia.)

Staging the president and showing respect Both have to do with the president making contact with constituencies throughout the country.

Ivan Shishkin’s Morning in a Pine Forest (1889)

A real stage (fundraiser)stage

The multiple Mr. Putins < the Yeltsin Years (1990s) Statist History Man Survivalist < the System Outsider Free Marketeer Case Officer Part II: The Operative Engages