She have been dealing with Putin and his logic of power for more than a decade. Finally they have together with theirs Colleague Roman Badanin published the book “The Tsar himself – as Vladimir Putin has deceived us all”. What is your view of him as a person?
My approach is human. Putin comes from a milieu from secret serviceists on the one hand and bandits on the other. This mixture shaped him. Every milieu in itself is dangerous enough. But fatal in combination: Mafiosi and KGB agent in one person. One rule applies to him: you take what you want. Putin does not understand the language of accommodation and compromise. Putin also discovered how tremendous the war is for him.
He can switch off opposition and journalists, keep society under control and justify its remaining in power. For Putin it doesn’t matter where he wages war – it is crucial that he wages war.
This does not mean that he is currently preparing for something new. But the war itself has become valuable to him, useful, he likes it. We see: he doesn’t want to end it.
So you think the war has become indispensable for Putin?
Trump offered him conditions that Putin could have sold propaganda as a victory. However, Putin declined. Peace is uninteresting for him because he is of no use. In his view, it would even be more convenient to bomb a more distant region than Ukraine. Ukraine is psychologically a difficult goal because many Russians have relatives there. But he does it anyway. And I don’t think he just stops. Putin likes the war too much.
Is there someone who could affect Putin?
The Medienmogul Juri Kowaltschuk is still there, as is the oligarch Arkadij Rotenberg and Gennadij Timtschenko – his old friends who are responsible for certain areas. But we don’t know who currently has the greatest influence. This chaos is typical of dictatorships. Today we often don’t even know where Putin is physically, let alone who has access to him. Therefore, I suspect those who claim to be sure what’s going on in Putin’s head and what he is going to do next.
