We’re still hoping to get that glimpse of Mr. Putin’s soul that President Bush talked about last month — the one that convinced him that the Russian president “is a straightforward, honest man” and “a remarkable leader” whom his administration can trust. In the absence of such insight, we must rely on Mr. Putin’s public acts — which continue to be those of a budding autocrat who is systematically liquidating his country’s free press, responding to restless minorities with lies and dirty war and seeking to restore Russian influence in the world by supporting and encouraging such enemies of the United States as Iraq.

Washington Post Editorial, 5 July 2001 https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2001/07/05/glimpses-of-mr-putins-soul/ae14ed02-db77-478b-ac26-a600d7253991/