25 Jahre Putin: Wie ein ehemaliger KGB-Agent Russland auf den Kopf stellte

***From The Times:***

“The freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, the freedom of the media and property rights, these fundamental principles of a civilized society will be protected by the state,” Putin vowed, as he addressed the nation for the first time as president.

It was a promise that Putin would break repeatedly over the next 25 years as he led Russia into a spiralling stand-off with the West and engulfed his own country in a wave of political terror that has not been seen since Stalin’s purges.

For Mikhail Kasyanov, who served as Russia’s prime minister from 2000 to 2004, the modern-day Putin is unrecognisable from the president whose government he once headed.

“He is now a completely different person in his behaviour, as well as his political attitudes. We were building a democratic state and moving closer to Europe and the western world. But Putin has turned this all upside down,” he told The Times.

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