mirror.co.uk SATURDAY 17.08.2019 DAILY MIRROR^19
DM1STHe’s silenced his enemies, invaded
Ukraine and used fake news trolls
to bring chaos to the West but...
Could Russia’s Iron
Man lose his grip?
succession struggle would break out
between three ambitious factions.
But like all authoritarian leaders, he
is not only worried about what might
happen in his country, he is worried
about his own security.
In Moscow, everyone talks about
Project 2024. This is when Putin’s
largely failed promise of infrastructure
renewal is meant to be completed.
It is also now shorthand for
wondering what will happen when his
term in office runs out that year.
Will he rewrite the constitution and
try to remain in power?
Will he preside over a smooth
transition? Or will the growing
rebelliousness of ordinary Russians
clash with the ambition of Putin’s
potential successors and cause
another spiral of political chaos?
Like all other political leaders, Putin
is obsessed now by his legacy.
Controlling that may be beyond
even his remarkable political skills.
■ Misha Glenny’s series, Putin
Prisoner Of Power, is released this
week as an Audible podcast.
[email protected]
@DailyMirroruted to political chaos in the West
which is now less able to formulate
coherent policies to counter Russian
influence from Venezuela to Eastern
Europe and the Middle East.
It has been Putin’s masterstroke. In
terms of political tactics, Trump and
new PM Boris Johnson are minnows
in comparison. But in
the long term?
Despite projecting
the strong-man image,
Putin now faces an
array of domestic prob-
lems. In Moscow and
other cities, people are
taking to the streets,
furious at the corrupt
networks which suck
in the country’s riches.
Damaging fires
sweep across Siberia,
exposing the weakness
of the Russian government’s response.
Just last week, a mysterious nuclear
explosion occurred in the north of
Russia. Some have compared it to the
1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.
Putin cannot just walk away. Like a
mafia boss, if he were to go, a bloodywas followed by the occupation of
large tracts of eastern Ukraine by
volunteers and mercenaries.
Seizing parts of Ukraine proved
popular among ordinary Russians. But
provoked a reaction in the West. The
EU and the US imposed sanctions on
Russia, hampering investment in the
country’s main sources of
revenue: gas and oil.
Given the structural
weakness of the Russian
economy, Putin realised
he had limited options to
fight the sanctions. So,
Russia expanded its
covert activities designed
to unsettle the West.
Centred around a cyber
criminal community and
a successful Moscow troll
farm, Russia began a
co-ordinated programme
of spreading fake news in advance of
the Brexit referendum, the 2016 US
presidential election and polls in
Germany, France and Italy.
Putin has extended the hand of
friendship to Turkey, Israel and EU
member, Hungary. This has contrib-the image of the tough guy: releasing
photos of him fishing with no shirt on,
riding motorbikes and hunting bears.
Early on in the presidency, Putin
found himself in a battle with the
oligarchs, notably Boris Berezovsky.
Until then the super-rich had
controlled presidents. Putin flipped
that around, using all the tricks in the
KGB playbook: arrest, false corruption
charges, murder and bribery.
When Berezovsky continued to
organise political resistance to Putin
from his refuge in Britain, the Russian
secret service went into overdrive.
Up to 14 Russian and British associ-
ates of Berezovsky have since died,
including the oligarch himself, in the
murkiest of circumstances.
After asserting domestic authority,
Putin focused on foreign policy.
In 2014, he used the constitutional
crisis in neighbouring Ukraine to
move troops into Crimea in clear
violation of international law. Thisthe thin-skinned Mr Trump unleashes
intemperate Twitter attacks against
anyone who has offended him.
But with Putin, Trump was fawning.
He readily accepted Putin’s assurances
that Russia had not interfered in the
US elections of 2016 despite the clear
insistence of the FBI, the CIA and
Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, that
there was massive interference.A
narcissist such as Trump is
putty in the hands of an
experienced KGB officer like
Putin, whose achievements
are remarkable given that Russia has
an economy which is 10 times smaller
than that of the United States.
It’s only half the size of Brexit-
battered Britain and yet Putin is now
one of the most powerful and, many
believe, richest men on the planet.
Although he stands at just 5ft 5in,
exactly the same height as Napoleon,
in Russia Putin has carefully cultivatedSINCE VLADIMIR PUTIN TOOK POWER
AMBITIOUS
HANDOVER
DEAD FAW N I NG
BY MISHA GLENNY
Journalist and author of McMafia
Putin with wife Lyudmila, 1985Taking over from Yeltsin in 1999Rival Boris Berezovsky Trump with Putin last yearA narcissist
like Trump
is putty in
the hands of
the ex-KGB
officer PutinMISHA GLENNY ON THE
LEADERS’ BODY LANGUAGE