WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.379 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we're taking 00:00:02.379 --> 00:00:05.200 a deep, detailed look at a figure whose influence 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:08.580 has, well, really defined so much of the 21st 00:00:08.580 --> 00:00:11.539 century global order. Vladimir Putin. That's 00:00:11.539 --> 00:00:13.740 right. We are using our sources here to try and 00:00:13.740 --> 00:00:16.640 map out his decades -long career, tracking his, 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:19.460 frankly, remarkable ascent from a Cold War intelligence 00:00:19.460 --> 00:00:22.660 officer to the long -serving de facto leader 00:00:22.660 --> 00:00:25.239 of Russia. And our mission really is to understand 00:00:25.239 --> 00:00:27.519 the anatomy of this kind of perpetual power. 00:00:27.800 --> 00:00:29.480 I mean, Putin has managed to stay at the helm 00:00:29.480 --> 00:00:33.719 of Russia since, what, 1999 or 2000? Right. Serving 00:00:33.719 --> 00:00:35.920 alternately as president, that was 2000 to 2008, 00:00:36.119 --> 00:00:38.000 and then again since 2012, and as prime minister 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:40.399 in those years in between. It's a continuity 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:42.079 of command that... That's well, you just don't 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:44.100 see it much in modern democratic systems. No, 00:00:44.100 --> 00:00:46.299 you really don't. And the scale of this continuity, 00:00:46.520 --> 00:00:48.600 that's what truly demands this kind of deep dive. 00:00:48.619 --> 00:00:50.700 I think if we look at those constitutional amendments 00:00:50.700 --> 00:00:54.439 he signed back in 2021, those changes basically. 00:00:55.420 --> 00:00:57.500 reset his term limits. They allow him to run 00:00:57.500 --> 00:00:59.939 for election twice more. Yeah. Potentially he 00:00:59.939 --> 00:01:02.560 could remain president until 2036. Yeah, potentially. 00:01:02.859 --> 00:01:04.579 I mean, that isn't just long term leadership. 00:01:04.700 --> 00:01:06.959 It feels like systemic perpetual power almost 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:09.819 by design. Exactly. And those amendments, they 00:01:09.819 --> 00:01:12.299 weren't just about political longevity. You know, 00:01:12.299 --> 00:01:15.750 they really codified his. ideological framework 00:01:15.750 --> 00:01:18.129 and cemented this very centralized governing 00:01:18.129 --> 00:01:20.450 structure, which I think we really need to unpack. 00:01:20.689 --> 00:01:23.370 Okay. But just to set the stage, we have to immediately 00:01:23.370 --> 00:01:27.030 place his rule within its, let's say, contentious 00:01:27.030 --> 00:01:30.370 global context. And that context shifted massively 00:01:30.370 --> 00:01:33.870 in 2023, didn't it? It really did. In March 2023, 00:01:34.310 --> 00:01:37.569 the International Criminal Court, the ICC, issued 00:01:37.569 --> 00:01:40.049 an arrest warrant for Putin. Right. The war crimes 00:01:40.049 --> 00:01:42.670 allegations. Precisely. The warrant relates to 00:01:42.670 --> 00:01:45.329 alleged war crimes, specifically involving the 00:01:45.329 --> 00:01:47.170 illegal child abduction said to have occurred 00:01:47.170 --> 00:01:49.909 during the war in Ukraine. Now, this places an 00:01:49.909 --> 00:01:53.129 unprecedented legal cloud over a sitting G20 00:01:53.129 --> 00:01:56.590 leader. It raises huge questions about his diplomatic 00:01:56.590 --> 00:01:58.650 future, international trade. travel, everything. 00:01:58.790 --> 00:02:00.969 Yeah. That sets a profoundly challenging tone 00:02:00.969 --> 00:02:03.469 for understanding his rule right from the outset. 00:02:03.650 --> 00:02:05.469 So when we look at the internal structure of 00:02:05.469 --> 00:02:07.890 power he actually built, how do the sources describe 00:02:07.890 --> 00:02:10.710 the political system under his watch? Well, consistently 00:02:10.710 --> 00:02:13.990 and pretty uniformly, it's described as an authoritarian 00:02:13.990 --> 00:02:16.689 dictatorship. Okay. It's a political environment 00:02:16.689 --> 00:02:20.289 marked by some pretty profound challenges. Things 00:02:20.289 --> 00:02:23.069 like endemic corruption. Russia consistently 00:02:23.069 --> 00:02:26.090 scores exceptionally low on Transparency International's 00:02:26.090 --> 00:02:29.129 Corruption Perceptions Index. It's also characterized 00:02:29.129 --> 00:02:32.250 by systematic human rights violations, the often 00:02:32.250 --> 00:02:34.490 violent suppression and imprisonment of political 00:02:34.490 --> 00:02:38.330 opponents, and critically, the absence of genuinely 00:02:38.330 --> 00:02:41.569 free and fair elections. Freedom House, for instance, 00:02:41.750 --> 00:02:44.090 has rated Russia consistently low, highlighting 00:02:44.090 --> 00:02:46.389 this massive democratic deficit that's really 00:02:46.389 --> 00:02:49.050 been built up during his tenure. That's a powerful 00:02:49.050 --> 00:02:52.409 overview of where things stand now. So let's 00:02:52.409 --> 00:02:54.009 unpack the journey that brought him there. Let's 00:02:54.009 --> 00:02:56.689 start with Section 2, The Ascent, beginning in 00:02:56.689 --> 00:02:59.449 Leningrad in 1952. Right. The beginning of his 00:02:59.449 --> 00:03:01.650 story is really essential because it's so deeply 00:03:01.650 --> 00:03:04.509 rooted in the Soviet apparatus. He was born in 00:03:04.509 --> 00:03:06.710 Leningrad, the youngest of three children. And 00:03:06.710 --> 00:03:08.710 there's this truly fascinating detail about his 00:03:08.710 --> 00:03:11.430 family background. His grandfather, Spirit on 00:03:11.430 --> 00:03:14.069 Putin, was apparently a personal cook to none 00:03:14.069 --> 00:03:16.710 other than Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. 00:03:16.750 --> 00:03:19.389 Wait, seriously? The grandson of Lenin's and 00:03:19.389 --> 00:03:22.030 Stalin's personal cook. That's not just proximity. 00:03:22.409 --> 00:03:24.889 That's a lineage rooted right there in the kitchen 00:03:24.889 --> 00:03:27.090 of Soviet power. It is quite something, isn't 00:03:27.090 --> 00:03:29.270 it? How much did that history, that closeness 00:03:29.270 --> 00:03:31.530 to the inner circle, the actual mechanisms of 00:03:31.530 --> 00:03:34.110 state authority, how much do we think that shaped 00:03:34.110 --> 00:03:36.389 his early goals? Well, it certainly connects 00:03:36.389 --> 00:03:38.930 his family directly to the foundational power 00:03:38.930 --> 00:03:42.150 structures of the Soviet state. But his early 00:03:42.150 --> 00:03:44.889 life was also marked by the very real physical 00:03:44.889 --> 00:03:47.909 scars of World War II on Leningrad, the siege. 00:03:48.129 --> 00:03:50.750 Ah, yes. Both his older brothers, Albert and 00:03:50.750 --> 00:03:53.530 Victor, died during the war. Victor died from 00:03:53.530 --> 00:03:56.610 diphtheria and starvation in 1942. His father 00:03:56.610 --> 00:03:59.150 was a conscript, served in an NKVD destruction 00:03:59.150 --> 00:04:01.949 battalion and was severely wounded. So this generation's 00:04:01.949 --> 00:04:04.229 trauma, their service to the state, that really 00:04:04.229 --> 00:04:07.000 defines his background. So a childhood shaped 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:10.259 by that Soviet power, legacy, scarcity, state 00:04:10.259 --> 00:04:12.659 loyalty. Where did that path lead him academically? 00:04:13.099 --> 00:04:15.919 He was known for being disciplined, quite focused. 00:04:16.040 --> 00:04:18.899 From the age of 12, he trained really intensively 00:04:18.899 --> 00:04:22.259 in martial arts, sambo, and judo, sort of embodying 00:04:22.259 --> 00:04:25.120 physical discipline. And academically, he pursued 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:27.779 a pretty demanding track, graduating from the 00:04:27.779 --> 00:04:30.459 Leningrad State University Law Faculty in 1975. 00:04:30.899 --> 00:04:33.439 And what was his academic focus? Was it policy? 00:04:34.220 --> 00:04:36.600 or more towards law enforcement. His thesis was 00:04:36.600 --> 00:04:38.759 actually focused on commercial regulation. The 00:04:38.759 --> 00:04:41.959 title was The Most Favored Nation Trading Principle 00:04:41.959 --> 00:04:44.959 in International Law. Interesting. During this 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:47.100 time, of course, joining the Communist Party. 00:04:47.529 --> 00:04:50.649 the CPSU, was basically a requirement for any 00:04:50.649 --> 00:04:53.050 serious career advancement. He remained a member 00:04:53.050 --> 00:04:56.550 until that coup attempt in 1991. Right. And crucially, 00:04:56.670 --> 00:04:59.110 during his time at university, he met Anatoly 00:04:59.110 --> 00:05:02.069 Sobchak. Ah, the mentor figure. Exactly. Sobchak 00:05:02.069 --> 00:05:04.529 was teaching business law then. He'd later co 00:05:04.529 --> 00:05:06.990 -author the Russian Constitution, become mayor 00:05:06.990 --> 00:05:09.790 of St. Petersburg, a hugely influential mentor 00:05:09.790 --> 00:05:12.410 for Putin. So the path from university led him 00:05:12.410 --> 00:05:15.189 straight into the, well, the legendary KGB. What 00:05:15.189 --> 00:05:17.629 defined his time in intelligence? He joined the 00:05:17.629 --> 00:05:20.850 KGB right out of university in 75. After initial 00:05:20.850 --> 00:05:24.069 training the 401st KGB school, he worked first 00:05:24.069 --> 00:05:26.029 in counterintelligence. That's the second chief 00:05:26.029 --> 00:05:28.589 directorate. Then he shifted to monitoring foreigners 00:05:28.589 --> 00:05:31.449 and consular officials in the first chief directorate. 00:05:31.470 --> 00:05:33.990 OK. And then he received. They suggest the Dresden 00:05:33.990 --> 00:05:36.810 office was politically kind of marginal and his 00:05:36.810 --> 00:05:38.709 duties were pretty mundane. You know that he 00:05:38.709 --> 00:05:40.970 and his colleagues were reduced mainly to collecting 00:05:40.970 --> 00:05:44.370 press clippings because the KGB apparatus in 00:05:44.370 --> 00:05:46.230 East Germany was apparently quite. effective 00:05:46.230 --> 00:05:48.389 by the late 80s. Right. The narrative of the 00:05:48.389 --> 00:05:52.610 quiet, efficient, maybe even slightly bored desk 00:05:52.610 --> 00:05:55.149 bound agent. But then there's the other account, 00:05:55.290 --> 00:05:58.370 the darker, more conspiratorial one. Precisely. 00:05:58.370 --> 00:06:00.689 There was investigative reporting alleging his 00:06:00.689 --> 00:06:02.930 office was actually involved in coordinating 00:06:02.930 --> 00:06:05.730 support for the terrorist Red Army faction, the 00:06:05.730 --> 00:06:09.129 RAF. Wow. The suggestion being that Dresden was 00:06:09.129 --> 00:06:12.329 used as a sort of discrete location for these 00:06:12.329 --> 00:06:14.810 clandestine activities, far from the political 00:06:14.810 --> 00:06:17.459 spotlight. light of Moscow or Berlin. Now, we 00:06:17.459 --> 00:06:19.480 have to be impartial here. Of course. A 2023 00:06:19.480 --> 00:06:22.040 investigation apparently disputed the key anonymous 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:24.500 source behind that RAF claim, labeling them a 00:06:24.500 --> 00:06:27.379 notorious fabulist. So the truth remains contested. 00:06:27.379 --> 00:06:29.339 But these conflicting stories, they definitely 00:06:29.339 --> 00:06:32.240 shape his mythos. Regardless of what his day 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:34.699 to day tasks actually were, the collapse of the 00:06:34.699 --> 00:06:37.540 Berlin Wall in 1989 must have been a moment of, 00:06:37.560 --> 00:06:41.519 well, existential crisis for a KGB officer stationed 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:43.759 right there. Oh, undoubtedly. It was a defining 00:06:43.759 --> 00:07:15.360 moment. How so? Yeah. state apparatus, even as 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:17.120 it was crumbling around him. And the end of his 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:19.000 intelligence career lined up almost perfectly 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:21.120 with the end of the Soviet Union itself. Yes, 00:07:21.220 --> 00:07:24.339 exactly. He resigned from the KGB in August 1991, 00:07:24.740 --> 00:07:26.939 specifically during the attempted coup against 00:07:26.939 --> 00:07:29.779 Gorbachev. He then returned to Leningrad State 00:07:29.779 --> 00:07:32.720 University and crucially renewed his vital friendship 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:35.480 with his former law professor, Anatoly Sobchak. 00:07:35.870 --> 00:07:38.569 And from this point, his political rise was just 00:07:38.569 --> 00:07:41.370 lightning fast. It's genuinely hard to overstate 00:07:41.370 --> 00:07:43.769 how quickly he went from being a mid -ranking 00:07:43.769 --> 00:07:45.990 intelligence officer to the head of the government. 00:07:46.149 --> 00:07:48.949 It truly was an astonishing vertical ascent. 00:07:48.970 --> 00:07:51.610 Back in St. Petersburg, which was Leningrad when 00:07:51.610 --> 00:07:54.089 he started there, he worked in Sobchak's administration 00:07:54.089 --> 00:07:58.750 from 1990 to 1996. Okay. He started as an international 00:07:58.750 --> 00:08:01.449 affairs advisor, later headed the Committee for 00:08:01.449 --> 00:08:03.949 External Relations, overseeing foreign investment. 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:07.319 This role put him directly in contact with Western 00:08:07.319 --> 00:08:09.839 businesses, right in the middle of that chaotic 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:13.100 post -Soviet market economy. But his time in 00:08:13.100 --> 00:08:15.480 St. Petersburg wasn't exactly clean, was it? 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:17.959 What do the sources say about the controversy 00:08:17.959 --> 00:08:20.180 surrounding him, though? You're right. The sources 00:08:20.180 --> 00:08:23.160 do confirm his time there was marred by investigations, 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:25.759 particularly concerning allegations of things 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:28.639 like asset valuation manipulation and some questionable 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:31.680 metal export licenses. Now, he was never charged 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:34.500 and he kept his post until Sobchak lost the mayoral 00:08:34.500 --> 00:08:37.299 election in 96. But the investigations suggest 00:08:37.299 --> 00:08:39.539 he learned very early on how to navigate that 00:08:39.539 --> 00:08:42.200 murky intersection of politics and, let's say, 00:08:42.340 --> 00:08:44.639 wealth management. And that loss for Sobchak 00:08:44.639 --> 00:08:46.919 turned out to be Putin's political rocket fuel, 00:08:47.019 --> 00:08:49.559 didn't it? He left St. Petersburg for Moscow 00:08:49.559 --> 00:08:53.460 in 1996. Was this escaping the investigations 00:08:53.460 --> 00:08:56.279 or just pure political opportunity? The sources 00:08:56.279 --> 00:08:59.399 really point towards pure upward political ambition. 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:02.600 Facilitated by his connections, he was called 00:09:02.600 --> 00:09:04.820 to Moscow, brought into the Yeltsin administration, 00:09:05.179 --> 00:09:07.620 where he moved incredibly quickly through key 00:09:07.620 --> 00:09:10.360 administrative roles. Like what? Deputy chief 00:09:10.360 --> 00:09:12.279 of the presidential property management department, 00:09:12.539 --> 00:09:15.299 then chief of the main control directorate, you 00:09:15.299 --> 00:09:18.159 know, positions with real oversight. And then 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:21.000 the pivotal move came in 1998. That's it. In 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:24.220 98, Yeltsin appointed him director of the FSB, 00:09:24.299 --> 00:09:27.330 the main successor agency to the KGB. He spent 00:09:27.330 --> 00:09:30.309 about a year there focusing intensely on strengthening 00:09:30.309 --> 00:09:33.190 the agency, really reestablishing the intelligence 00:09:33.190 --> 00:09:35.730 community as a central pillar of state power. 00:09:35.909 --> 00:09:39.169 OK. Then in August 1999, almost out of the blue, 00:09:39.250 --> 00:09:41.370 he was appointed prime minister. And just four 00:09:41.370 --> 00:09:43.769 months later, when Yeltsin resigned suddenly 00:09:43.769 --> 00:09:46.110 on New Year's Eve. Putin became acting president. 00:09:46.149 --> 00:09:48.549 Exactly. Acting president. So just to recap, 00:09:48.789 --> 00:09:51.950 regional municipal advisor, the head of the FSB 00:09:51.950 --> 00:09:54.370 to prime minister, then acting president, all 00:09:54.370 --> 00:09:58.070 in about eight years. That trajectory, it leads 00:09:58.070 --> 00:10:01.289 us directly into Section 3, the vertical of power 00:10:01.289 --> 00:10:03.870 and economic realignment. Right. The moment he 00:10:03.870 --> 00:10:06.610 effectively assumed power, his immediate focus 00:10:06.610 --> 00:10:09.830 domestically was centralization. He inherited 00:10:09.830 --> 00:10:12.710 this fragmented, pretty chaotic Russia where 00:10:12.710 --> 00:10:15.590 regional governors held immense power. He needed 00:10:15.590 --> 00:10:18.090 to build what he explicitly called the vertical, 00:10:18.250 --> 00:10:21.070 a strict top -down structure of control. Okay. 00:10:21.149 --> 00:10:23.570 How did he achieve that administrative consolidation? 00:10:23.990 --> 00:10:26.309 What were the mechanics? Well, his first key 00:10:26.309 --> 00:10:29.929 move was very early, May 2000. He issued a decree 00:10:29.929 --> 00:10:32.889 organizing Russia's 89 federal subjects regions 00:10:32.889 --> 00:10:35.250 basically into seven administrative federal districts. 00:10:35.330 --> 00:10:37.669 That number later expanded and got reorganized 00:10:37.669 --> 00:10:39.850 a bit. And who ran these districts? Each district 00:10:39.850 --> 00:10:41.730 was placed under the authority of a powerful 00:10:41.730 --> 00:10:45.169 presidential envoy. These envoys acted as Moscow's 00:10:45.169 --> 00:10:47.269 eyes and hands on the ground, making sure regional 00:10:47.269 --> 00:10:49.970 governments towed the Kremlin line. So it sounds 00:10:49.970 --> 00:10:51.769 like he was systematically stripping away the 00:10:51.769 --> 00:10:53.509 independence that regional leaders had gained 00:10:53.509 --> 00:10:56.269 after the USSR collapsed. That's exactly what 00:10:56.269 --> 00:10:58.830 it looks like. And the sort of final nail in 00:10:58.830 --> 00:11:01.110 the coffin for regional autonomy came in July 00:11:01.110 --> 00:11:04.220 2000. when he gained the legal right to dismiss 00:11:04.220 --> 00:11:06.179 the heads of these federal subjects, the governors. 00:11:06.419 --> 00:11:10.779 Wow. And then, critically, in 2004, right after 00:11:10.779 --> 00:11:13.759 the Bisland School siege tragedy, he replaced 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:16.220 the direct popular election of governors altogether. 00:11:16.460 --> 00:11:19.690 How did that work? It became a system where the 00:11:19.690 --> 00:11:21.710 president nominated the governor and then the 00:11:21.710 --> 00:11:23.950 regional legislature simply confirmed the choice. 00:11:24.629 --> 00:11:27.269 Effectively, Moscow picked the governors. And 00:11:27.269 --> 00:11:29.570 he justified this move, which, let's be clear, 00:11:29.690 --> 00:11:32.509 dismantled the key democratic mechanism by saying 00:11:32.509 --> 00:11:34.570 it was necessary to combat separatism and organized 00:11:34.570 --> 00:11:37.279 crime, right? Yes. He framed it as essential 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:39.679 for stability, for holding the country together. 00:11:39.820 --> 00:11:41.860 This centralization, it defines the political 00:11:41.860 --> 00:11:44.419 system he built. And the ideological framework 00:11:44.419 --> 00:11:46.899 they developed for this top -down control was 00:11:46.899 --> 00:11:49.360 termed sovereign democracy. Sovereign democracy. 00:11:49.580 --> 00:11:52.000 What does that mean in practice? Well, the idea, 00:11:52.120 --> 00:11:54.320 as presented, is that the government's actions 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:57.820 must enjoy popular support within Russia and 00:11:57.820 --> 00:12:00.860 crucially be insulated from external, particularly 00:12:00.860 --> 00:12:03.799 Western, political influence or pressure. I see. 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:06.240 But some critics, like the Swedish economist 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:08.779 Anders Aslund, characterize this style quite 00:12:08.779 --> 00:12:11.220 differently, not as a system of modern governance, 00:12:11.379 --> 00:12:14.700 but as highly personalized, centralized manual 00:12:14.700 --> 00:12:17.240 management, like someone driving the whole country 00:12:17.240 --> 00:12:20.120 by hand. That ability to control regional politics, 00:12:20.200 --> 00:12:22.539 that manual management, must have given him the 00:12:22.539 --> 00:12:24.940 leverage to then focus his centralized power 00:12:24.940 --> 00:12:28.779 on the next critical piece. The economy. How 00:12:28.779 --> 00:12:30.840 was the economy managed under this style? Yeah, 00:12:30.919 --> 00:12:33.179 the economic policies under Putin are complex, 00:12:33.379 --> 00:12:36.000 and the economist Sergei Guryev, he actually 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:38.360 divided them into four distinct periods, which 00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:39.940 I think is a really helpful way to understand 00:12:39.940 --> 00:12:42.620 how the state's role evolved over time. Okay, 00:12:42.659 --> 00:12:44.820 walk us through those four phases. Sure. First, 00:12:44.860 --> 00:12:47.000 Guryev identifies the reform period, roughly 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:50.440 1999 to 2003. This saw some initial structural 00:12:50.440 --> 00:12:53.960 changes, tax reform, some liberalization, which 00:12:53.960 --> 00:12:55.720 happened to coincide perfectly with the global 00:12:55.720 --> 00:12:58.000 resource boom. Bright place. right time. Pretty 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:01.759 much. Second, the status period, say 2004 to 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:05.659 2008, this is where the state really starts reasserting 00:13:05.659 --> 00:13:08.159 control over key industries, energy especially. 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:11.850 Okay. Third, the crisis recovery period, 2008 00:13:11.850 --> 00:13:15.269 to 2013, basically navigating the global financial 00:13:15.269 --> 00:13:18.690 crisis. And finally, the isolation stagnation 00:13:18.690 --> 00:13:21.789 period from 2014 to the present, largely driven 00:13:21.789 --> 00:13:24.169 by sanctions after the annexation of Crimea and 00:13:24.169 --> 00:13:26.409 then the full -scale invasion. Let's focus on 00:13:26.409 --> 00:13:28.529 that initial reform period boom for a second. 00:13:28.669 --> 00:13:31.190 It's often held up as proof of his early effectiveness, 00:13:31.429 --> 00:13:33.649 isn't it? It was certainly a boom, no question. 00:13:33.950 --> 00:13:36.330 But the key driver, according to most analyses, 00:13:36.509 --> 00:13:39.549 was largely external. first eight years or so, 00:13:39.629 --> 00:13:42.429 the average GDP growth was an astonishing 7 % 00:13:42.429 --> 00:13:45.169 per year. Incredible numbers. They are. And while 00:13:45.169 --> 00:13:47.309 some early economic reforms definitely played 00:13:47.309 --> 00:13:49.769 a part, the primary fuel was that massive five 00:13:49.769 --> 00:13:51.809 -fold increase in global oil and gas prices. 00:13:51.970 --> 00:13:54.370 The revenue surge was just immense. And they 00:13:54.370 --> 00:13:57.090 used that revenue. They did. Russia was able 00:13:57.090 --> 00:13:59.490 to successfully repay all of its substantial 00:13:59.490 --> 00:14:03.389 Soviet era debts by 2005. They even managed to 00:14:03.389 --> 00:14:05.389 gain entry into the World Trade Organization 00:14:05.389 --> 00:14:09.230 in 2012, which seemed like a moment of real international 00:14:09.230 --> 00:14:11.970 economic integration. But then the political 00:14:11.970 --> 00:14:14.990 calculus shifted quite dramatically around 2004, 00:14:15.429 --> 00:14:18.029 marking that transition into the status period. 00:14:18.779 --> 00:14:21.039 Why the move away from market -oriented reform 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:23.399 towards more state control? Well, it seems the 00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:25.440 consolidation of political power, that vertical, 00:14:25.659 --> 00:14:28.279 was mirrored by a consolidation of economic power. 00:14:28.620 --> 00:14:31.059 The status period focused heavily on making sure 00:14:31.059 --> 00:14:33.100 the state controlled strategic sectors, energy, 00:14:33.340 --> 00:14:35.720 aerospace, defense. How do they do that? They 00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:37.960 formed these massive state champions like the 00:14:37.960 --> 00:14:40.940 United Aircraft Corporation in 2006. And there 00:14:40.940 --> 00:14:43.620 was a really clear non -negotiable emphasis on 00:14:43.620 --> 00:14:45.899 ensuring majority Russian state ownership in 00:14:45.899 --> 00:14:48.399 major joint ventures. Think of the... the 49 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:51.960 -51 split that was established in the 2004 Gazprom 00:14:51.960 --> 00:14:55.440 Nord Stream pipeline deal. So 51 % state control. 00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:58.399 Exactly. It guaranteed the Kremlin ultimate control 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:00.960 over these strategic assets. It suggests political 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:03.539 leverage was often prioritized over, say, pure 00:15:03.539 --> 00:15:06.200 profit maximization or efficiency. Now, when 00:15:06.200 --> 00:15:08.179 the state becomes the primary economic actor 00:15:08.179 --> 00:15:11.480 like that, it often opens the door wide to corruption, 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:14.279 which, as we noted earlier, seemed to be an issue 00:15:14.279 --> 00:15:16.960 even back in his St. Petersburg days. It's an 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:19.549 almost unavoidable connection, isn't it? Russia 00:15:19.549 --> 00:15:22.809 has consistently received, frankly, abysmal scores 00:15:22.809 --> 00:15:26.090 on the global corruption perceptions index throughout 00:15:26.090 --> 00:15:29.730 his rule. The whole system, resource wealth extraction, 00:15:29.990 --> 00:15:32.570 state controlled industry became deeply intertwined 00:15:32.570 --> 00:15:35.490 with political loyalty and patronage networks. 00:15:35.669 --> 00:15:38.769 Right. It got so blatant that the Organized Crime 00:15:38.769 --> 00:15:40.990 and Corruption Reporting Project actually named 00:15:40.990 --> 00:15:43.929 Putin their 2014 person of the year. Not an award 00:15:43.929 --> 00:15:46.250 you'd want. It's infinitely not. And it wasn't 00:15:46.250 --> 00:15:48.350 for fighting corruption, but specifically for. 00:15:48.620 --> 00:15:50.480 furthering corruption and organized crime on 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:52.799 a global scale. That's how they saw it. And what 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:54.840 was the domestic perception of this system even 00:15:54.840 --> 00:15:57.000 during those boom years when money was flowing? 00:15:57.179 --> 00:15:59.299 Well, the sources indicate there was significant 00:15:59.299 --> 00:16:02.399 public frustration even then. A 2018 survey, 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:04.799 for example, suggested that two -thirds of Russians 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:07.639 believed Putin bore full responsibility for the 00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:09.799 problems of the country. So there's a clear irony. 00:16:10.019 --> 00:16:13.519 The economic success, largely built on that energy 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:16.539 revenue, funded a political system that many 00:16:16.539 --> 00:16:18.559 of the very people it claimed to serve viewed 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:20.940 as deeply corrupt. Okay, moving into section 00:16:20.940 --> 00:16:23.960 four then. If he's managing the economy manually, 00:16:24.100 --> 00:16:27.139 as Oslo put it, he's certainly managing the national 00:16:27.139 --> 00:16:29.639 narrative with an equally tight ideological fist. 00:16:29.740 --> 00:16:32.080 Oh, absolutely. Control over information is just 00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:35.240 paramount if you want to maintain that vertical 00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:38.019 of power. And the sources we have are pretty 00:16:38.019 --> 00:16:41.879 definitive on this. Since 1999, Putin has systematically 00:16:41.879 --> 00:16:44.559 punished journalists who dare to challenge the 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:46.559 official state viewpoint. Systematically punished. 00:16:46.820 --> 00:16:49.419 Yeah. And we saw a major, clearly orchestrated 00:16:49.419 --> 00:16:51.399 crackdown on what little independent media was 00:16:51.399 --> 00:16:53.889 left. particularly after his return to the presidency 00:16:53.889 --> 00:16:56.649 in 2012. How does Russia rank globally in terms 00:16:56.649 --> 00:16:59.710 of press freedom under his rule? Very, very poorly. 00:16:59.929 --> 00:17:02.990 Reporters Without Borders ranked Russia 148th 00:17:02.990 --> 00:17:06.089 in their 2013 World Press Freedom Index. They 00:17:06.089 --> 00:17:08.589 classified the entire media environment as not 00:17:08.589 --> 00:17:10.670 free. And this isn't just about overt censorship. 00:17:10.809 --> 00:17:12.569 It's about actively engineering the information 00:17:12.569 --> 00:17:15.390 landscape that citizens are exposed to. And what's 00:17:15.390 --> 00:17:17.710 the primary delivery mechanism for this managed 00:17:17.710 --> 00:17:20.309 narrative? Is it still TV? Television remains 00:17:20.309 --> 00:17:22.849 absolutely king. Sources suggest approximately 00:17:22.849 --> 00:17:25.589 two thirds of Russians use state controlled television 00:17:25.589 --> 00:17:28.890 as their main news source. And around 85 percent 00:17:28.890 --> 00:17:31.369 get most of their information overall from Russian 00:17:31.369 --> 00:17:34.069 state media outlets. And what's the narrative 00:17:34.069 --> 00:17:37.319 being pushed? It's a very specific, powerful 00:17:37.319 --> 00:17:40.460 and quite historical narrative, essentially that 00:17:40.460 --> 00:17:42.920 Putin and his inner circle are akin to modern 00:17:42.920 --> 00:17:46.279 day Romanov Tsars who heroically ended the post 00:17:46.279 --> 00:17:48.880 -Soviet chaos, the so -called time of troubles. 00:17:49.079 --> 00:17:51.220 Right. It presents him not just as a president, 00:17:51.339 --> 00:17:54.420 but as the indispensable national savior, the 00:17:54.420 --> 00:17:57.400 ultimate stabilizing force. That media control 00:17:57.400 --> 00:17:59.799 must have become absolute following the 2022 00:17:59.799 --> 00:18:02.980 full scale invasion of Ukraine. It became effectively 00:18:02.980 --> 00:18:05.640 totalitarian when it came to the. conflict. State 00:18:05.640 --> 00:18:07.700 media outlets were given explicit orders to use 00:18:07.700 --> 00:18:10.000 only official state sources. They were strictly 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:12.339 banned from using critical, accurate terms like 00:18:12.339 --> 00:18:15.640 war, invasion or aggression. Instead, using special 00:18:15.640 --> 00:18:18.440 military operation. Exactly. And the penalties 00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:22.000 for violating these war censorship laws are incredibly 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:25.200 severe, up to 15 years in jail. It effectively 00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:28.000 silenced virtually all internal media dissent 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:30.829 about the war. Beyond just controlling the media, 00:18:30.950 --> 00:18:33.450 the entire ideological framework of the state 00:18:33.450 --> 00:18:35.930 seems to have shifted under his rule towards 00:18:35.930 --> 00:18:39.029 a very pronounced conservative turn. Yes, it 00:18:39.029 --> 00:18:41.589 was a very systematic shift. He actively promotes 00:18:41.589 --> 00:18:44.509 explicitly conservative policies, both at home 00:18:44.509 --> 00:18:47.130 and internationally. He frequently launches these 00:18:47.130 --> 00:18:50.430 rhetorical attacks against globalism, liberalism, 00:18:50.529 --> 00:18:53.009 Western democratic norms. And he backs this up. 00:18:53.150 --> 00:18:56.029 He does. He has cultivated and supported conservative 00:18:56.029 --> 00:18:58.549 think tanks like the Isborski Club, which... 00:18:58.569 --> 00:19:00.710 really emphasize fervent Russian nationalism, 00:19:01.089 --> 00:19:04.009 traditionalism, and a systematic opposition to 00:19:04.009 --> 00:19:06.789 liberal ideas. And a critical piece of cementing 00:19:06.789 --> 00:19:08.769 this ideological shift seems to have been the 00:19:08.769 --> 00:19:10.750 powerful alliance he forged with the Russian 00:19:10.750 --> 00:19:12.970 Orthodox Church. That alliance is absolutely 00:19:12.970 --> 00:19:15.549 central. You see consistently close collaboration 00:19:15.549 --> 00:19:17.769 between the state and the Russian Orthodox Church, 00:19:17.869 --> 00:19:19.609 which, of course, gained immense prestige and 00:19:19.609 --> 00:19:21.690 influence after decades of Soviet repression. 00:19:21.990 --> 00:19:24.490 And the church leadership reciprocated. Oh, very 00:19:24.490 --> 00:19:27.109 much so. Patriarch Kirill, the head of the church. 00:19:27.789 --> 00:19:29.990 publicly endorsed Putin's 2012 election victory, 00:19:30.250 --> 00:19:33.670 actually proclaiming it a miracle of God. This 00:19:33.670 --> 00:19:36.049 kind of merging of state and church provides 00:19:36.049 --> 00:19:38.789 a powerful moral and historical justification 00:19:38.789 --> 00:19:41.529 for the government's conservative and nationalist 00:19:41.529 --> 00:19:44.670 direction. Now, under this conservative banner, 00:19:44.829 --> 00:19:47.289 we've seen what many describe as a rapid erosion 00:19:47.289 --> 00:19:50.430 of civil liberties and human rights. What are 00:19:50.430 --> 00:19:52.529 some of the most restrictive laws that the sources 00:19:52.529 --> 00:19:55.000 highlight? The sources detail several key ones. 00:19:55.180 --> 00:19:57.099 First, there's the restrictive foreign agents 00:19:57.099 --> 00:19:59.460 law. It's been expanded over the years, notably 00:19:59.460 --> 00:20:02.539 in 2020. How does that work? It forces any Russian 00:20:02.539 --> 00:20:05.839 human rights organizations, NGOs, even media 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:07.920 outlets that receive any international funding 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:10.559 to publicly brand themselves as foreign agents. 00:20:10.759 --> 00:20:13.339 This severely hinders their work, makes it hard 00:20:13.339 --> 00:20:15.599 to get funding or rent space, and basically brands 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:18.220 them as subversive elements, spies almost. And 00:20:18.220 --> 00:20:20.380 globally, perhaps the most controversial has 00:20:20.380 --> 00:20:22.960 been the legislation targeting the LGBTQ. plus 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:25.750 community. That would be the infamous gay propaganda 00:20:25.750 --> 00:20:28.190 law, officially prohibiting the dissemination 00:20:28.190 --> 00:20:30.710 of propaganda of non -traditional sexual relations 00:20:30.710 --> 00:20:34.150 to minors. And the impact. Well, critics argue, 00:20:34.329 --> 00:20:36.670 and the sources support this, that the law has 00:20:36.670 --> 00:20:40.089 led directly to widespread censorship, severe 00:20:40.089 --> 00:20:42.950 restrictions on public life for LGBT plus people, 00:20:43.089 --> 00:20:46.869 and, worryingly, a documented increase in violence 00:20:46.869 --> 00:20:49.369 and discrimination against the community. It 00:20:49.369 --> 00:20:52.089 creates a climate of fear. We also see, according 00:20:52.089 --> 00:20:55.450 to the sources, the systematic use of imprisonment 00:20:55.450 --> 00:20:59.170 to silence major political dissent, often targeting 00:20:59.170 --> 00:21:02.369 very high profile opponents. Yes, this is a consistent 00:21:02.369 --> 00:21:04.470 tactic described. You have high profile figures 00:21:04.470 --> 00:21:07.470 like Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the oligarch who challenged 00:21:07.470 --> 00:21:09.690 Putin's authority early on and ended up in prison 00:21:09.690 --> 00:21:12.390 for years. And more recently, Alexei Navalny, 00:21:12.470 --> 00:21:14.890 who became arguably his most effective and visible 00:21:14.890 --> 00:21:17.650 contemporary critic, who was imprisoned and ultimately 00:21:17.650 --> 00:21:20.029 died in custody. And it's not just the figureheads. 00:21:20.210 --> 00:21:23.730 No. As of 2020 the Memorial Human Rights Center 00:21:23.730 --> 00:21:27.450 which itself was later shut down listed 380 political 00:21:27.450 --> 00:21:30.690 prisoners in Russia. That number included 78 00:21:30.690 --> 00:21:33.630 residents of annexed Crimea illustrating the 00:21:33.630 --> 00:21:36.619 scope of this political suppression. And finally, 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:38.900 this conservative turn seems to be codified right 00:21:38.900 --> 00:21:41.039 into the state's most foundational documents 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:44.160 and even applied to demographic policy. Absolutely. 00:21:44.440 --> 00:21:47.059 Those 2020 constitutional amendments we mentioned 00:21:47.059 --> 00:21:50.200 earlier, they explicitly define marriage as exclusively 00:21:50.200 --> 00:21:53.539 between one man and one woman, cementing traditional 00:21:53.539 --> 00:21:56.480 values right into the Constitution. And the demographics. 00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:59.440 In 2023, reflecting this deep seated concern 00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:02.440 over Russia's declining birth rates, Putin publicly 00:22:02.440 --> 00:22:05.240 urged Russian women to embrace their patriotic 00:22:05.390 --> 00:22:07.890 duty, essentially, and have seven, eight, or 00:22:07.890 --> 00:22:10.890 even more children. Wow. Seven or eight. It really 00:22:10.890 --> 00:22:13.250 paints a picture of a system geared towards locking 00:22:13.250 --> 00:22:15.630 down a very specific traditional nationalist 00:22:15.630 --> 00:22:18.289 worldview, where even the citizens' personal 00:22:18.289 --> 00:22:20.630 life choices are framed as subservient to the 00:22:20.630 --> 00:22:23.869 state's demographic and ideological needs. That 00:22:23.869 --> 00:22:26.670 intense domestic focus on traditionalism and 00:22:26.670 --> 00:22:29.569 control seems to translate directly into his 00:22:29.569 --> 00:22:32.829 often confrontational foreign policy. Which brings 00:22:32.829 --> 00:22:35.769 us neatly to Section 5. The fundamental principle 00:22:35.769 --> 00:22:38.049 governing that foreign policy seems to be this 00:22:38.049 --> 00:22:41.130 concept of the near abroad. Yes, the near abroad 00:22:41.130 --> 00:22:43.710 concept is absolutely key to understanding Russian 00:22:43.710 --> 00:22:47.230 external relations under Putin. The Kremlin consistently 00:22:47.230 --> 00:22:50.210 asserts what it calls a sphere of influence and 00:22:50.210 --> 00:22:52.769 privileged interests over all the post -Soviet 00:22:52.769 --> 00:22:55.460 states. Aye. They argue these territories are 00:22:55.460 --> 00:22:57.700 just strategically vital to Russian security 00:22:57.700 --> 00:23:00.599 and core interests. They see them as a necessary 00:23:00.599 --> 00:23:03.740 buffer zone. That assertion of privileged interests. 00:23:04.599 --> 00:23:07.019 It sounds strikingly familiar to certain historical 00:23:07.019 --> 00:23:09.240 Western policies, doesn't it? It does. It's been 00:23:09.240 --> 00:23:11.519 frequently compared by geopolitical experts to 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:13.579 the historical Monroe Doctrine, which the United 00:23:13.579 --> 00:23:16.460 States asserted over its hemisphere. This idea 00:23:16.460 --> 00:23:19.099 of preventing external influence and acclaimed 00:23:19.099 --> 00:23:21.660 sphere of interest is what has led directly to 00:23:21.660 --> 00:23:23.960 conflict in the region. Which specific conflicts 00:23:23.960 --> 00:23:26.400 have arisen directly from this asserted sphere 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:28.740 of influence doctrine? Well, most notably, we 00:23:28.740 --> 00:23:32.240 saw the 2008 Russo -Georgian War, which erupted 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:34.480 after Georgia tried to reassert control over 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:37.059 the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Russia 00:23:37.059 --> 00:23:39.940 intervened forcefully. And then, critically, 00:23:40.220 --> 00:23:44.000 the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Putin 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:46.500 justified the annexation by claiming Crimea has 00:23:46.500 --> 00:23:49.259 always been and remains an inseparable part of 00:23:49.259 --> 00:23:51.400 Russia. And his justification regarding Ukraine 00:23:51.400 --> 00:23:53.920 itself. He asserted... quite controversially 00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:55.880 and ahistorically, according to many historians, 00:23:56.240 --> 00:23:59.119 that Ukraine itself was artificially created 00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:01.660 on a whim by the Bolsheviks, basically denying 00:24:01.660 --> 00:24:04.180 its legitimacy as a truly independent nation 00:24:04.180 --> 00:24:06.819 separate from Russia. So the core conflict, the 00:24:06.819 --> 00:24:10.180 full -scale 2022 invasion of Ukraine, was preceded 00:24:10.180 --> 00:24:12.859 by years of this intense ideological justification 00:24:12.859 --> 00:24:15.720 and some pretty explicit warnings. What did the 00:24:15.720 --> 00:24:17.980 sources reveal about that ideological buildup? 00:24:18.140 --> 00:24:20.779 The ideological groundwork was laid quite meticulously 00:24:20.779 --> 00:24:23.380 over years. Way back in 2014 during the armed 00:24:23.380 --> 00:24:26.019 insurgency in eastern Ukraine, Putin had already 00:24:26.019 --> 00:24:28.160 stated publicly that he would use Russia's entire 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:30.599 arsenal of available means to protect Russian 00:24:30.599 --> 00:24:33.440 speakers abroad. Establishing a pretext. Essentially, 00:24:33.480 --> 00:24:36.069 yes. It established a potential justification 00:24:36.069 --> 00:24:38.269 for intervention anywhere he claimed Russian 00:24:38.269 --> 00:24:40.289 speakers were threatened. But the most profound 00:24:40.289 --> 00:24:42.630 statement, the one that really stands out, was 00:24:42.630 --> 00:24:45.509 that 2021 article that was made mandatory reading 00:24:45.509 --> 00:24:49.190 for Russian military personnel. Yes, that lengthy 00:24:49.190 --> 00:24:53.529 July 2021 article on the historical unity of 00:24:53.529 --> 00:24:56.910 Russians and Ukrainians. The fact it was made 00:24:56.910 --> 00:24:59.329 mandatory reading really underscores its strategic 00:24:59.329 --> 00:25:01.549 importance in the Kremlin's view. And what did 00:25:01.549 --> 00:25:04.319 it argue? In it, Putin explicitly stated that 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:07.039 the very formation of a Ukrainian state hostile 00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:10.559 to Moscow was comparable in threat level to the 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:13.059 use of weapons of mass destruction against Russia. 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:16.339 Wow. Comparable to WMDs. It frames Ukrainian 00:25:16.339 --> 00:25:19.299 sovereignty not just as an inconvenience or a 00:25:19.299 --> 00:25:21.599 geopolitical challenge, but as an existential 00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:24.299 military grade threat that justifies extreme 00:25:24.299 --> 00:25:26.880 measures. Looking at the invasion context itself, 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:29.819 we now have Putin's own recent commentary reflecting 00:25:29.819 --> 00:25:32.099 on the decision to launch it. His statements 00:25:32.099 --> 00:25:34.980 in December 2023 were highly revealing, I think. 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:37.160 He indicated that Russia would only negotiate 00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:39.599 when its stated objectives were completely achieved, 00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:42.359 essentially confirming a maximalist position, 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:45.380 no compromise. Right. But perhaps the most striking 00:25:45.380 --> 00:25:48.099 comment was his expression of regret, not regret 00:25:48.099 --> 00:25:50.680 for starting the war, but regret that he did 00:25:50.680 --> 00:25:52.779 not launch the invasion earlier. And with more 00:25:52.779 --> 00:25:55.880 preparation, he stated it was, quote, impossible 00:25:55.880 --> 00:25:59.190 to stand still and endure any longer. This really 00:25:59.190 --> 00:26:02.109 confirms the long -term, deeply ideological nature 00:26:02.109 --> 00:26:05.789 of the conflict from his perspective. OK, let's 00:26:05.789 --> 00:26:08.170 turn now to the relationship with the West, specifically 00:26:08.170 --> 00:26:11.430 the U .S. and NATO, and the often chilling reliance 00:26:11.430 --> 00:26:14.650 on nuclear posturing. Relations seem to start 00:26:14.650 --> 00:26:18.019 OK. cautiously after 9 -11, but they collapsed 00:26:18.019 --> 00:26:19.700 pretty rapidly. That's right. Initially, post 00:26:19.700 --> 00:26:22.240 9 -11, Russia did provide some intelligence support 00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:24.279 to the U .S. in the early days of the war on 00:26:24.279 --> 00:26:26.720 terror. But that cooperation just evaporated 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:29.480 quickly after 2003. Why then? Primarily driven 00:26:29.480 --> 00:26:31.920 by Russia's vehement opposition to the U .S.-led 00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:35.220 invasion of Iraq, which they saw as illegal unilateralism. 00:26:35.420 --> 00:26:37.980 And perhaps even more crucially, the continued 00:26:37.980 --> 00:26:41.099 expansion of NATO eastward, closer and closer 00:26:41.099 --> 00:26:44.799 to Russia's borders. This profound deterioration 00:26:44.970 --> 00:26:47.990 really reached a boiling point in 2007. Ah, yes. 00:26:48.269 --> 00:26:50.490 That was a landmark Munich Security Conference 00:26:50.490 --> 00:26:53.009 speech. What was the essence of Putin's argument 00:26:53.009 --> 00:26:55.609 there? It made huge waves. It was a full -throated, 00:26:55.710 --> 00:26:58.630 global condemnation of U .S. foreign policy delivered 00:26:58.630 --> 00:27:00.769 right in the heart of the Western security establishment. 00:27:01.329 --> 00:27:04.069 Putin criticized what he explicitly called the 00:27:04.069 --> 00:27:06.930 United States' monopolistic dominance. Meaning? 00:27:07.109 --> 00:27:09.910 He argued the U .S. was engaged in the almost 00:27:09.910 --> 00:27:12.650 uncontained hyper -use of force in international 00:27:12.650 --> 00:27:15.730 relations, basically. acting unilaterally, ignoring 00:27:15.730 --> 00:27:18.549 international law and institutions. He argued 00:27:18.549 --> 00:27:20.549 this meant no one feels safe. And ironically, 00:27:20.750 --> 00:27:23.569 this U .S. policy was succeeding only in stimulating 00:27:23.569 --> 00:27:26.490 a new global arms race. A clear declaration that 00:27:26.490 --> 00:27:28.750 the post -Cold War unipolar moment was over, 00:27:28.829 --> 00:27:31.420 in his view. Absolutely. It was a signal that 00:27:31.420 --> 00:27:34.259 Russia would no longer accept that order. And 00:27:34.259 --> 00:27:36.539 the nuclear rhetoric quickly followed suit, framing 00:27:36.539 --> 00:27:38.920 Russia's own military modernization, especially 00:27:38.920 --> 00:27:42.279 its nuclear forces, as a necessary response to 00:27:42.279 --> 00:27:44.799 perceived threats. What specific threats? The 00:27:44.799 --> 00:27:47.400 Kremlin consistently argues that Russia has been 00:27:47.400 --> 00:27:49.619 forced to modernize its nuclear capabilities, 00:27:50.059 --> 00:27:52.819 primarily because the U .S. withdrew from the 00:27:52.819 --> 00:27:56.519 1972 anti -ballistic missile ABM Treaty back 00:27:56.519 --> 00:28:00.410 in 2002. Right. that withdrawal as fundamentally 00:28:00.410 --> 00:28:03.490 undermining its strategic deterrent, its ability 00:28:03.490 --> 00:28:07.269 to strike back if attacked. This strategic posturing 00:28:07.269 --> 00:28:10.930 led to his notorious 2018 statement about a potential 00:28:10.930 --> 00:28:14.569 nuclear conflict. Martyrs, quote. Yes. An aggressor 00:28:14.569 --> 00:28:16.750 should know that vengeance is inevitable, that 00:28:16.750 --> 00:28:19.210 he will be annihilated. We, meaning Russians, 00:28:19.509 --> 00:28:22.309 will go to heaven as martyrs. It's a shocking 00:28:22.309 --> 00:28:24.809 framing, really, turning the concept of mutual 00:28:24.809 --> 00:28:27.309 assured destruction into some kind of moral or 00:28:27.309 --> 00:28:29.789 even religious victory. And that escalation, 00:28:29.789 --> 00:28:31.710 that nuclear brinkmanship, has only continued 00:28:31.710 --> 00:28:35.740 into the present decade, hasn't it? It has. Russia 00:28:35.740 --> 00:28:38.059 suspended its participation in the new START 00:28:38.059 --> 00:28:40.640 treaty, the last major nuclear arms reduction 00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:43.259 treaty with the United States. Suspending, not 00:28:43.259 --> 00:28:45.740 withdrawing entirely, but still. Still a major 00:28:45.740 --> 00:28:47.940 blow to arms control. Furthermore, in September 00:28:47.940 --> 00:28:51.420 2024, Putin issued a really severe warning stating 00:28:51.420 --> 00:28:54.099 that Russia would consider nuclear retaliation. 00:28:54.569 --> 00:28:56.450 even if it were attacked only with conventional 00:28:56.450 --> 00:28:59.369 weapons. That sounds like a shift. Experts noted 00:28:59.369 --> 00:29:01.809 it as a very worrying, apparent deviation from 00:29:01.809 --> 00:29:03.910 Russia's traditional, although somewhat opaque, 00:29:04.089 --> 00:29:06.589 doctrine, which generally reserved nuclear use 00:29:06.589 --> 00:29:09.269 for existential threats or nuclear attack. It 00:29:09.269 --> 00:29:11.509 lowered the threshold, potentially. This tension 00:29:11.509 --> 00:29:14.150 with Western allies has played out not just in 00:29:14.150 --> 00:29:16.450 grand policy statements, but through specific 00:29:16.450 --> 00:29:19.390 lethal incidents on the soil of allied nations, 00:29:19.509 --> 00:29:22.009 particularly, it seems, in the UK. Yes, the sources 00:29:22.009 --> 00:29:24.690 detail two extremely high - profile poisonings 00:29:24.690 --> 00:29:26.789 that UK authorities linked directly back to the 00:29:26.789 --> 00:29:30.549 Russian state. First, back in 2006, the poisoning 00:29:30.549 --> 00:29:33.990 of the former KGB FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko 00:29:33.990 --> 00:29:36.410 in London. With polonium, right? Using radioactive 00:29:36.410 --> 00:29:39.230 polonium -210, yes. A truly exotic and state 00:29:39.230 --> 00:29:42.369 -level method. And the official UK inquiry drew 00:29:42.369 --> 00:29:44.369 a pretty clear line of responsibility, didn't 00:29:44.369 --> 00:29:47.759 it? It did. The 2016 UK public inquiry concluded 00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:50.359 that the FSB operation to kill Litvinenko was 00:29:50.359 --> 00:29:53.380 probably approved by Mr. Patrushev, then head 00:29:53.380 --> 00:29:56.259 of the FSB, and also by President Putin. And 00:29:56.259 --> 00:29:59.180 the motive? The inquiry cited Litvinenko's very 00:29:59.180 --> 00:30:01.500 public and damaging criticisms of the Kremlin 00:30:01.500 --> 00:30:04.140 leadership and the FSB itself as the likely motive, 00:30:04.339 --> 00:30:06.819 sending a message. Then the second major incident 00:30:06.819 --> 00:30:10.549 involved a nerve agent. That was the 2018 Novichok 00:30:10.549 --> 00:30:13.470 poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian 00:30:13.470 --> 00:30:15.509 military intelligence officer who had been a 00:30:15.509 --> 00:30:18.210 double agent for the UK, and his daughter Yulia 00:30:18.210 --> 00:30:20.650 in Salisbury. Novichok, another state signature. 00:30:20.890 --> 00:30:23.289 Exactly. A military grade nerve agent developed 00:30:23.289 --> 00:30:25.809 by the Soviet Union. The UK formally accused 00:30:25.809 --> 00:30:28.190 the Russian state and the foreign secretary at 00:30:28.190 --> 00:30:30.710 the time, Boris Johnson, stated publicly that 00:30:30.710 --> 00:30:33.250 it was overwhelmingly likely Putin himself had 00:30:33.250 --> 00:30:35.630 personally ordered the attack. So these incidents, 00:30:35.750 --> 00:30:37.670 they underscore a willingness to use lethal. 00:30:46.980 --> 00:30:48.960 That's certainly how many analysts interpret 00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:51.440 them. Now, while the relationship with the West 00:30:51.440 --> 00:30:54.460 has been so confrontational, Putin has simultaneously 00:30:54.460 --> 00:30:57.339 been busy building powerful global partnerships, 00:30:57.619 --> 00:31:00.180 particularly looking eastward and also into the 00:31:00.180 --> 00:31:02.420 Middle East. Yes, this is the very calculated 00:31:02.420 --> 00:31:05.519 eastward pivot. Russia has cultivated increasingly 00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:08.180 strong strategic... relationships, especially 00:31:08.180 --> 00:31:10.539 with China and India. They work through organizations 00:31:10.539 --> 00:31:13.220 like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, SEO, 00:31:13.559 --> 00:31:16.759 and the BRICS economic grouping. And the tangible 00:31:16.759 --> 00:31:19.480 results. Massive infrastructural cooperation 00:31:19.480 --> 00:31:23.160 is one key outcome. The prime example is the 00:31:23.160 --> 00:31:26.700 huge $400 billion Power of Siberia natural gas 00:31:26.700 --> 00:31:29.200 pipeline deal signed with China. It locks in 00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:31.299 long -term energy supply to China, providing 00:31:31.299 --> 00:31:33.819 Russia with revenue and political leverage in 00:31:33.819 --> 00:31:36.269 exchange for China's diplomatic backing. What 00:31:36.269 --> 00:31:38.529 about regions traditionally seen as more under 00:31:38.529 --> 00:31:40.589 Western influence, like the Middle East and Africa? 00:31:40.970 --> 00:31:43.740 Has Russia made inroads there? Systematically. 00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:46.779 Russia has sought to undermine what it sees as 00:31:46.779 --> 00:31:49.759 the U .S.-led international order by expanding 00:31:49.759 --> 00:31:53.059 its influence in these areas. Putin visited Iran 00:31:53.059 --> 00:31:56.740 back in 2007, the first Soviet or Russian leader 00:31:56.740 --> 00:31:59.420 to do so since Stalin went for the Tehran conference 00:31:59.420 --> 00:32:02.640 in 1943. That's significant. It is. And he publicly 00:32:02.640 --> 00:32:05.720 condemned the 2011 NATO -led military intervention 00:32:05.720 --> 00:32:08.779 in Libya, calling it medieval calls for crusades, 00:32:08.859 --> 00:32:11.660 deliberately framing Western actions as aggressive 00:32:11.660 --> 00:32:15.049 imperialism. And the most significant military 00:32:15.049 --> 00:32:17.730 move outside the post -Soviet space was undoubtedly 00:32:17.730 --> 00:32:20.490 Syria, wasn't it? Absolutely. The direct military 00:32:20.490 --> 00:32:23.269 intervention in Syria starting in 2015 to prop 00:32:23.269 --> 00:32:26.769 up the Bashar al -Assad regime was a major geopolitical 00:32:26.769 --> 00:32:28.750 move from Moscow's perspective. What were the 00:32:28.750 --> 00:32:31.950 aims? It seems it was explicitly aimed at undermining 00:32:31.950 --> 00:32:34.490 the U .S.-led coalition fighting ISIS, preventing 00:32:34.490 --> 00:32:37.250 regime change, and critically securing permanent 00:32:37.250 --> 00:32:39.089 Russian influence in the eastern Mediterranean. 00:32:39.450 --> 00:32:41.890 They solidified their presence using bases like 00:32:41.890 --> 00:32:44.490 the TARDIS naval base. It showed Russia was willing 00:32:44.490 --> 00:32:47.009 and able to project power far beyond its borders 00:32:47.009 --> 00:32:49.839 again. And in Africa? the strategy seems to have 00:32:49.839 --> 00:32:52.880 involved establishing quieter, sometimes deniable 00:32:52.880 --> 00:32:56.359 military footholds. Yes. Often using private 00:32:56.359 --> 00:32:58.980 military companies, PMCs like the Wagner Group, 00:32:59.119 --> 00:33:02.519 though their status is now complex. Moscow dispatched 00:33:02.519 --> 00:33:05.480 Russian PMCs to various conflicts, notably securing 00:33:05.480 --> 00:33:08.259 a significant, almost permanent military presence 00:33:08.259 --> 00:33:11.319 by intervening decisively in the Central African 00:33:11.319 --> 00:33:14.400 Republic Civil War. Right. And the first ever 00:33:14.400 --> 00:33:17.720 Russia -Africa summit was held in 2019, highlighting... 00:33:17.740 --> 00:33:20.240 the strategic priority Moscow placed on establishing 00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:22.940 resource extraction deals and security relationships 00:33:22.940 --> 00:33:25.640 across the continent, often filling vacuums left 00:33:25.640 --> 00:33:28.180 by former colonial powers or competing directly 00:33:28.180 --> 00:33:36.730 with Western influence. The persona Putin presents 00:33:36.730 --> 00:33:38.769 to the world is so fundamental to his domestic 00:33:38.769 --> 00:33:41.910 support, and it appears incredibly curated. Oh, 00:33:41.930 --> 00:33:43.930 it's textbook cult of personality construction, 00:33:44.309 --> 00:33:46.869 meticulously designed to project this image of 00:33:46.869 --> 00:33:49.609 the strongman, the vogue, the father of the nation. 00:33:49.849 --> 00:33:52.089 How was that achieved? It involves these highly 00:33:52.089 --> 00:33:55.869 publicized, often quite macho, tough guy photo 00:33:55.869 --> 00:33:57.609 opportunities and stunts. We've all seen them. 00:33:58.009 --> 00:34:00.569 The photos of him shirtless while fishing or 00:34:00.569 --> 00:34:02.869 riding a horse in Siberia. Right, the submersible 00:34:02.869 --> 00:34:06.099 dive. Diving in a tiny submersible in Lake Baikal, 00:34:06.279 --> 00:34:08.820 driving a Formula One car, demonstrating his 00:34:08.820 --> 00:34:11.440 skills in martial arts, he holds an eighth Dan 00:34:11.440 --> 00:34:15.119 black belt in judo, which is very high. This 00:34:15.119 --> 00:34:17.800 carefully crafted image is meant to scream strength, 00:34:17.980 --> 00:34:21.500 competence, decisiveness, control. And this image 00:34:21.500 --> 00:34:24.019 of physical strength is often coupled with a 00:34:24.019 --> 00:34:27.000 very distinctive, quite sharp communicative style, 00:34:27.119 --> 00:34:29.250 isn't it? Absolutely. He's known for using these 00:34:29.250 --> 00:34:32.190 pithy aphorisms, memorable soundbites, and sometimes 00:34:32.190 --> 00:34:34.809 surprisingly coarse or vulgar language. Like 00:34:34.809 --> 00:34:37.369 the criminal jargon. Yes. Notably, he occasionally 00:34:37.369 --> 00:34:39.929 employs Russian criminal jargon known as penya. 00:34:40.409 --> 00:34:43.030 This linguistic choice, sort of speaking the 00:34:43.030 --> 00:34:45.010 language of the street, is widely interpreted 00:34:45.010 --> 00:34:47.190 as a deliberate move to connect with a broader, 00:34:47.269 --> 00:34:49.070 perhaps traditionally tougher segment of the 00:34:49.070 --> 00:34:52.130 population. It adds this layer of perceived authenticity, 00:34:52.489 --> 00:34:54.690 maybe even danger, to his otherwise polished 00:34:54.690 --> 00:34:58.530 public image. Additionally, this carefully cultivated 00:34:58.530 --> 00:35:01.849 image has brought him immense, if often controversial, 00:35:02.070 --> 00:35:04.550 recognition over the years. Significant recognition, 00:35:04.829 --> 00:35:07.269 yes. He was named Time Magazine's Person of the 00:35:07.269 --> 00:35:10.449 Year back in 2007. And Forbes magazine ranked 00:35:10.449 --> 00:35:12.610 him as the world's most powerful individual for 00:35:12.610 --> 00:35:16.469 four consecutive years, from 2013 to 2016. But 00:35:16.469 --> 00:35:19.010 it's controversial recognition. Definitely. The 00:35:19.010 --> 00:35:21.889 controversy is perhaps best encapsulated by that 00:35:21.889 --> 00:35:24.909 term that emerged in Germany, Putinmerster. Meaning? 00:35:25.289 --> 00:35:28.760 Literally. One who understands Putin. It became 00:35:28.760 --> 00:35:31.059 a derogatory political buzzword used to criticize 00:35:31.059 --> 00:35:33.460 politicians or public figures who seem to advocate 00:35:33.460 --> 00:35:35.800 for greater empathy or understanding of the Kremlin's 00:35:35.800 --> 00:35:38.679 motives, seen by critics as appeasement. Now, 00:35:38.739 --> 00:35:41.440 the public persona is of this man of relatively 00:35:41.440 --> 00:35:43.880 modest means, dedicated solely to serving the 00:35:43.880 --> 00:35:46.719 state. But the question of his actual private 00:35:46.719 --> 00:35:49.480 wealth is one of the most explosive and certainly 00:35:49.480 --> 00:35:51.840 most opaque elements surrounding his rule. The 00:35:51.840 --> 00:35:54.380 contrast is truly astonishing. It almost screams 00:35:54.380 --> 00:35:57.159 cognitive dissonance. Officially, his reported 00:35:57.159 --> 00:35:59.460 income is quite modest, for example, the equivalent 00:35:59.460 --> 00:36:03.380 of about $270 ,000 back in 2012. Yet he's been 00:36:03.380 --> 00:36:06.760 photographed numerous times wearing luxury wristwatches 00:36:06.760 --> 00:36:09.079 with a collective value estimated by journalists 00:36:09.079 --> 00:36:12.679 at around $700 ,000. That's nearly three times 00:36:12.679 --> 00:36:15.119 his official annual salary just on his wrist. 00:36:15.239 --> 00:36:17.920 And the allegations from opposition figures, 00:36:18.219 --> 00:36:20.119 investigative journalists, and Western intelligence 00:36:20.119 --> 00:36:23.679 agencies about his true wealth are just staggering. 00:36:24.019 --> 00:36:26.719 Estimates of a secret multi -billion dollar fortune 00:36:26.719 --> 00:36:30.059 go as high as $160 billion, maybe even more. 00:36:30.199 --> 00:36:33.110 Though proving it is incredible. difficult. So 00:36:33.110 --> 00:36:35.590 how does one reconcile that level of visible 00:36:35.590 --> 00:36:38.809 personal luxury, like the watches, with the carefully 00:36:38.809 --> 00:36:41.190 crafted image of the dedicated state servant? 00:36:41.800 --> 00:36:44.320 The sources seem to suggest it's all hidden behind 00:36:44.320 --> 00:36:47.079 this complex network of proxies. That is the 00:36:47.079 --> 00:36:49.179 core finding, really, from those major offshore 00:36:49.179 --> 00:36:52.280 financial leaks. The Panama Papers in 2016, the 00:36:52.280 --> 00:36:55.440 Pandora Papers in 2021. They linked very close 00:36:55.440 --> 00:36:57.739 personal associates of Putin. Like who? People 00:36:57.739 --> 00:36:59.840 like the cellist Sergei Rolduzhin, a childhood 00:36:59.840 --> 00:37:02.320 friend, and the Rotenberg brothers, his former 00:37:02.320 --> 00:37:04.679 judo partners. These leaks connected them to 00:37:04.679 --> 00:37:06.699 billions of dollars held in complex offshore 00:37:06.699 --> 00:37:09.579 structures. Specifically, about $2 billion just 00:37:09.579 --> 00:37:13.130 in Rolduzhin's network was... And Roldugin himself 00:37:13.130 --> 00:37:16.289 claimed he wasn't really a businessman. Yet somehow 00:37:16.289 --> 00:37:18.929 he accumulated assets worth maybe $100 million. 00:37:19.710 --> 00:37:22.809 It strongly suggests a classic proxy system, 00:37:22.889 --> 00:37:25.090 doesn't it? It certainly implies, according to 00:37:25.090 --> 00:37:27.809 the investigators, a systematic use of proxies, 00:37:27.809 --> 00:37:30.769 trusted friends, family members, associates to 00:37:30.769 --> 00:37:33.789 shield the true beneficial owner of these vast 00:37:33.789 --> 00:37:36.869 funds. It effectively hides the wealth from public 00:37:36.869 --> 00:37:39.309 scrutiny, from potential international sanctions, 00:37:39.369 --> 00:37:42.289 and allows him to maintain that relatively austere 00:37:42.289 --> 00:37:44.730 public image while allegedly controlling assets 00:37:44.730 --> 00:37:47.489 valued in the billions. And this alleged secrecy 00:37:47.489 --> 00:37:50.090 extends even to his residences, far beyond the 00:37:50.090 --> 00:37:51.809 official government compounds like the Kremlin 00:37:51.809 --> 00:37:55.449 or Novogar. Absolutely. While he uses numerous 00:37:55.449 --> 00:37:58.449 official government residences, critics and investigative 00:37:58.449 --> 00:38:00.369 reports point to these incredibly controversial, 00:38:00.590 --> 00:38:03.190 allegedly personal estates. The most famous, 00:38:03.210 --> 00:38:05.610 of course, is that massive Italianette -style 00:38:05.610 --> 00:38:08.230 palace complex near Galenzic on the Black Sea 00:38:08.230 --> 00:38:10.929 coast. Often called Putin's Palace. Exactly. 00:38:11.030 --> 00:38:13.389 Estimated to have cost something like $1 .35 00:38:13.389 --> 00:38:17.050 billion to build. Alexei Navalny's investigative 00:38:17.050 --> 00:38:20.250 team released a hugely popular documentary claiming 00:38:20.250 --> 00:38:22.750 this colossal structure was built through an 00:38:22.750 --> 00:38:25.250 intricate corruption scheme specifically for 00:38:25.250 --> 00:38:28.579 Putin's personal private use. They argued it's 00:38:28.579 --> 00:38:30.980 the physical manifestation of his secret wealth 00:38:30.980 --> 00:38:33.539 and power. The Kremlin denies it, of course. 00:38:34.099 --> 00:38:36.500 Finally, then, how is his legacy being assessed, 00:38:36.719 --> 00:38:39.239 both critically and supportively, now that we 00:38:39.239 --> 00:38:42.000 are well over two decades into his rule? The 00:38:42.000 --> 00:38:43.980 assessments are, as you'd expect, profoundly 00:38:43.980 --> 00:38:46.679 divided. Internationally, the critical voices 00:38:46.679 --> 00:38:49.619 are incredibly harsh, especially now. Friedinghaus, 00:38:49.780 --> 00:38:51.679 as we mentioned, has rated Russia not free since 00:38:51.679 --> 00:38:55.300 2005. Post -2022 invasion, world leaders have 00:38:55.300 --> 00:38:58.219 used exceptionally stark language. Joe Biden, 00:38:58.420 --> 00:39:00.559 Justin Trudeau, Boris Johnson have all labeled 00:39:00.559 --> 00:39:03.400 him things like a lying, murderous dictator and 00:39:03.400 --> 00:39:06.159 a bully. Hillary Clinton, even before that, characterized 00:39:06.159 --> 00:39:09.599 him simply as arrogant. But inside Russia, particularly 00:39:09.599 --> 00:39:12.119 perhaps among older generations, the assessment 00:39:12.119 --> 00:39:14.199 often remains strongly supportive, doesn't it? 00:39:14.460 --> 00:39:17.059 Yes, many Russians genuinely credit him or at 00:39:17.059 --> 00:39:19.800 least did for a long time for reviving Russia's 00:39:19.800 --> 00:39:22.980 fortunes. They argue he restored order, national 00:39:22.980 --> 00:39:25.820 pride and economic stability after the perceived 00:39:25.820 --> 00:39:28.539 chaos and national humiliation of the Yeltsin 00:39:28.539 --> 00:39:31.480 years in the 1990s. Right. Even the former Soviet 00:39:31.480 --> 00:39:33.980 leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who is often critical 00:39:33.980 --> 00:39:37.039 of Putin's democratic backsliding, publicly stated 00:39:37.039 --> 00:39:39.739 at one point that Putin had saved Russia from 00:39:39.739 --> 00:39:41.440 the beginning of a collapse during that initial 00:39:41.440 --> 00:39:44.500 period. He brought stability at a. cost. Looking 00:39:44.500 --> 00:39:46.880 now towards the longer view, how do contemporary 00:39:46.880 --> 00:39:49.679 historians or analysts frame his overall impact 00:39:49.679 --> 00:39:52.260 on the world stage? Well, a recent assessment, 00:39:52.340 --> 00:39:54.119 I think it was Franklin Foer writing for 2025 00:39:54.119 --> 00:39:56.920 publication, declared quite starkly that the 00:39:56.920 --> 00:39:59.280 world is now living in the age of Vladimir Putin. 00:39:59.400 --> 00:40:02.150 The age of Putin. His argument was that. Putin's 00:40:02.150 --> 00:40:05.550 greatest, most lasting success was fundamentally 00:40:05.550 --> 00:40:08.210 shattering the post -Cold War transatlantic order, 00:40:08.389 --> 00:40:11.889 the idea of American unipolarity. He succeeded 00:40:11.889 --> 00:40:14.469 in challenging U .S. dominance, promoting his 00:40:14.469 --> 00:40:17.130 alternative model of strongman conservatism and 00:40:17.130 --> 00:40:20.190 sovereign nationalism, and fueling a global turn, 00:40:20.329 --> 00:40:22.269 or at least a questioning, against liberal democracy. 00:40:23.360 --> 00:40:25.659 Foer argues he has fundamentally reshaped the 00:40:25.659 --> 00:40:27.659 geopolitical landscape regardless of what happens 00:40:27.659 --> 00:40:30.260 next. So the detailed journey we've taken today, 00:40:30.320 --> 00:40:32.239 drawing on all these sources, it really shows 00:40:32.239 --> 00:40:35.239 this clear, perhaps terrifying pattern. From 00:40:35.239 --> 00:40:37.860 a KGB officer steeped in secrecy through that 00:40:37.860 --> 00:40:40.719 incredibly rapid political ascent marked by consolidating 00:40:40.719 --> 00:40:43.099 power, the vertical and economic realignment 00:40:43.099 --> 00:40:45.699 based on state control, often fueled by resource 00:40:45.699 --> 00:40:48.639 wealth, to a foreign policy rooted in reclaiming 00:40:48.639 --> 00:40:50.280 spheres of influence and confronting the West. 00:40:50.659 --> 00:40:53.119 The sources seem to synthesize a leader whose 00:40:53.119 --> 00:40:55.199 political success at home and confrontation abroad 00:40:55.199 --> 00:40:58.239 were enabled in large part by that resource wealth 00:40:58.239 --> 00:41:00.280 all wrapped up in this public image of carefully 00:41:00.280 --> 00:41:03.460 cultivated masculine strength. And that profound 00:41:03.460 --> 00:41:05.800 tension, that gap between the visible strength 00:41:05.800 --> 00:41:09.559 and the, well, the invisible alleged power and 00:41:09.559 --> 00:41:12.340 wealth, that leads us to our final provocative 00:41:12.340 --> 00:41:14.869 thought for you, the listener. Okay. This man 00:41:14.869 --> 00:41:17.789 built his entire public image on projecting transparency, 00:41:17.909 --> 00:41:21.289 control, masculine strength. Yet his actual power 00:41:21.289 --> 00:41:24.130 and certainly his alleged multibillion dollar 00:41:24.130 --> 00:41:27.530 wealth seem guarded by unparalleled state secrecy, 00:41:27.530 --> 00:41:30.349 elaborate proxy networks and what critics describe 00:41:30.349 --> 00:41:33.829 as deep rooted systemic corruption. So the question 00:41:33.829 --> 00:41:36.650 is, to what extent is the authoritarian structure 00:41:36.650 --> 00:41:39.329 Putin built complete with the pervasive cult 00:41:39.329 --> 00:41:42.010 of personality, the massive unconfirmed wealth 00:41:42.010 --> 00:41:44.590 seemingly held by associates? To what extent 00:41:44.590 --> 00:41:47.170 is this simply the modern personalized expression 00:41:47.170 --> 00:41:49.230 of a deeply rooted Russian historical tradition 00:41:49.230 --> 00:41:51.389 of highly centralized secretive state power? 00:41:51.510 --> 00:41:53.590 Or is it something different? Is it a unique 00:41:53.590 --> 00:41:55.710 personalized dictatorship designed specifically 00:41:55.710 --> 00:41:58.409 to make the man himself, Vladimir Putin, completely 00:41:58.409 --> 00:42:00.230 indistinguishable from the state he commands? 00:42:00.469 --> 00:42:02.969 A question I suspect that the world will be wrestling 00:42:02.969 --> 00:42:05.030 with long after the age of Putin is officially 00:42:05.030 --> 00:42:07.050 declared over. Thank you for joining us for this 00:42:07.050 --> 00:42:07.469 deep dive.