They [the oligarchs] see the mass media as their chief instrument of influence over the state. They have all become accustomed, especially recently, to getting everything they want from the state and using it as they want. They don’t want to live in accordance with the law, and I don’t think that’s right.
Putin interview in Globe and Mail, Geoffrey York and Chrystia Freeland, “We are not looking for enemies”, 14 Dec 2000
The race for survival pits the EU against Putin’s Russia. Isis poses a threat to both, but it should not be overestimated. Attacks mounted by jihadi terrorists, however terrifying, do not compare with the threat emanating from Russia.
George Soros, Guardian, February 2016
I would even say that once, in Soviet times, we so much frightened the world that this resulted in the creation of large military-political blocs. Did we benefit from that?
Certainly, not. We thought, for some strange reason ten years ago, that everyone loved us heartily and that they all should toil, while we would reap the fruits – I mean the G-8 countries. That we did not even have to use the fork, that we only had to open our mouths and pies would jump into them of their own volition.
Putin interview with journalists from Nezavisimaya Gazeta, ORT and RTR. Interview 24 Dec 2000. Text published Nezavisimaya Gazeta 26 Dec 2000.
President Putin’s KGB roots have sadly informed a style of governance that is neither reformist nor particularly democratic. The common thread throughout his domestic and foreign policies is his effort to trade on fear — the fears of Russians that their country is under attack from hostile external forces (Chechens, NATO or free marketeers); and the fears of Westerners that if not for a strong, pragmatic leader, Russia will again become unruly, unstable and potentially aggressive. Instead of beating down the real hostile forces in Russia — corruption, ignorance, a bloated state — Mr. Putin cleverly changes the rules of the game.
Garry Kasparov “The Russian President Trades on Fear” The Wall Street Journal Europe, 4 Jan 2001
Authoritarianism is complete disregard for the law. Democracy is the observance of the law.
Putin interview with journalists from Nezavisimaya Gazeta, ORT and RTR. Interview 24 Dec 2000. Text published Nezavisimaya Gazeta 26 Dec 2000.
First of all, the policy that is being pursued in our country is the policy not of yesterday, but of the day before yesterday. It is linked to the nostalgia of very many people in our country for the Soviet stagnation and for the Soviet traditions.
We witness a traditional policy, a return to old habits such as renunciation of freedom of expression, renunciation of all freedom, renunciation of such values as non-use of the army in internal conflicts, renunciation of personal initiative and of outspokenness; an expectation that benefits are about to be distributed from above. This is the way the majority of citizens feel. And this is the main feature of the past year. The policy of our authorities and the President have pursued this year tends to bring back the mentality of the day before yesterday.
Grigoriy Yavlinskiy, “Hero of the Day” program, NTV, 20 Dec 2000
If we agree that the symbols of the preceding epochs, including the Soviet epoch, mustn’t be used at all, we will have to admit then that our mothers’ and fathers’ lives were useless and meaningless, that their lives were lived in vain. Neither in my head nor in my heart can I agree with this.
There was already a period in our history when we rewrote everything anew. We can do the same today too. We can rewrite the flag, the anthem and the coat-of-arms. But then surely we will become people with no memory of where we come from.
Putin address, ORT, 4 Dec 2000
Chernomyrdin does not hide the fact that he stands for a more assertive foreign policy…Moscow shows every sign of playing the ethnic Russian card as a way of exerting pressure on the Baltics…Russia has allowed the former 14th Soviet Army and local Russian Communists to carve out a separatist ‘Dnestr Republic’…Russia has also intervened decisively in the wars in Georgia, forcing Eduard Shevardnadze to take his country into the Commonwealth of Independent States, and in Tajikistan. The economic union with Belarus is part of the same process…But when Russia’s leaders deal with the ‘near abroad’ and Eastern Europe, they put on their flak jackets and pursue policies not far removed from those of the old Soviet Politburo. This means bringing the Baltic region, Transcaucasia and Central Asia back into Moscow’s orbit, and it means putting pressure on Eastern European counties not to join Nato. It is a policy of unspoken military intimidation….
Tony Barber, “Back to the USSR”, The Independent on Sunday, 23 Jan 94 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/back-to-the-ussr-russia-turned-a-corner-last-week-but-the-road-it-has-chosen-is-not-one-of-reform-it-1401846.html
The Russian government appears to be moving resolutely away from the radical reform program that was designed to transform the country from a Communist command economy to a free market system.
John Gray, Toronto Globe and Mail, 20 Dec 93
For by going to St. Petersburg, President Bush, Prime Minister Tony Blair, President Jacques Chirac, and the leaders of Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan will in effect place their stamp of approval on the removal of political rights, the harassment of independent groups, the renationalization of energy and the censorship of media that Putin has imposed on his country since he took over from Yeltsin six years ago. They will also give their blessing to Putin’s use of gas pipelines to threaten Ukraine, and to his ambiguous role in Iranian nuclear and Middle East peace negotiations.
Anne Applebaum “Skip St Petersburg, Mr Bush” Washington Post, 8 Mar 2006 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/07/AR2006030701332.html
Russia Observer 