December 9, 2002. Copyright, 2002, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Profile of Russian President Vladimir Putin
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, December 9, Graphic News:  Vladimir Putin, it has been said, is a lonely man. So far ahead in his thinking is the Russian president supposed to be that his contemporaries are left behind. Yet others say he is a threat to democracy, and that his restrictions on press freedom, for example, recall the dark days of former dictators.

Is Putin, a former KGB spymaster and judo expert, a liberal in authoritarian clothing or its exact antithesis? Two years after he was anointed successor to the ailing Boris Yeltsin, no one seems to know for sure.

Born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) in 1952, Putin spent 15 years with the KGB before becoming vice mayor of his home town and then being groomed for greatness at the Kremlin. After holding onto the presidency in his own right in 2000, his popularity was high: his youth, fitness and discipline contrasted with the incoherent ramblings of Yeltsin. He has put an end to chaos, balancing the budget and introducing tax reforms to rejuvenate the economy, and redrawing administrative lines.

But it has not all been plain sailing and Putin has been criticised for restoring order by concentrating too much power in the hands of the Kremlin and deploying former spies at the cost of civil liberties. His first major blunder came after the Kursk submarine disaster in August 2000, when his tardy return from holiday to take command appalled Russians. Ever cool in times of crisis, he faced fresh criticism in October over the handling of the Moscow theatre siege, when he appeared insensitive to victimsÕ relatives. Western leaders were alarmed by the use of deadly gas but refrained from offending a leader who is determined to be counted as one of their own.

Putin has several bargaining chips to play, not least the promise to look away in the event of an attack on Iraq provided the West does the same with Chechnya. Mysterious as he is, the Russian leader clearly wants a seat at their table. So, for the time being, itÕs one step forward, one step back.
/ENDS