Russia: Is Putin Bringing Back the Old USSR?

Does Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin scare you? Consider the following facts:

Since 2000, thirteen journalists have been murdered in Russia in similar ways, all execution-style killings in the old KGB fashion, and not one of these murders has resulted in a conviction. Only recently have people been arrested in the murder of one of these journalists. Each of the journalists was hot on the trail of a story that would bring embarrassment or scandal to Putin or his government. Another Russian journalist, an expatriate in the UK, was killed in a sensational manner: poisoning through irradiation, using radium that was worth at least $2 million.

Putin managed to rise from near-total obscurity to presidency of Russia in less than two years, bypassing dozens of more experienced and prominent men.

Putin has filled nearly all important government positions with men he worked with in the old KGB, and some of them have been involved in questionable actions.

Russia just passed an election bill forbidding the creation of a negative image of political opponents - whether the image is deserved or not. How can you campaign against someone if you can't point out their flaws?

Who Is Vladimir Putin?

Vladimir Putin was born to a family with distant political connections; his grandfather had been a cook to both Lenin and Stalin, and his father worked in espionage and sabotage during World War II. Putin joined the Communist Party in college, and has never resigned; directly out of college in 1975, he joined the KGB.

Most of his KGB experience was in foreign intelligence, with a large chunk of time spent in pre-unification East Germany. He spent his years there steadily rising to the top; while he worked mostly in obscurity, he made excellent connections, and developed a keen sense of politics and survival. In 1991, during the KGB's abortive attempt to redirect Mikhail Gorbachev's government, Putin made the wise decision to resign his position and enter politics. For the next six years, he worked his way up the St. Petersburg government chain, until a lucky break brought him to President Yeltsin's attention in 1997.