Putin’s Cold Calculus

The West must persuade him that continuing the war is a threat to his regime

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It may seem incredible that any leader could send hundreds of thousands of soldiers to a needless death just to strengthen his hold on power and that of a small coterie of corrupt associates. But this is the reality of post-Soviet Russia.

Vladimir Putin became president after the bombings of Russian apartment buildings in 1999 that cost 300 lives. According to incontrovertible evidence, the bombings were carried out by the Federal Security Service (FSB) precisely to bring Putin to power. The failure of Bill Clinton’s secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, to raise the issue, even though trusted Russian sources had warned the U.S. Embassy in Moscow of FSB involvement, set the clock ticking for an eventual full-scale war.

David Satter

About the Author

David Satter

David Satter is the author of The Less You Know, the Better You Sleep: Russia’s Road to Terror and Dictatorship Under Yeltsin and Putin and vice chairman of the Remembrance Society, which commemorates the victims of totalitarianism.

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