When Vladimir Putin first appeared before the Russian public on New Year’s Eve 1999, he was a little-known former intelligence officer, handpicked to succeed Boris Yeltsin in a nation worn down by chaos, poverty, and humiliation. Now, after 25 years in power, he stands as one of the world’s most enigmatic and consequential leaders—neither czar nor general secretary, but something wholly post-Soviet.
As the Russia-Ukraine war grinds into its fourth year and Moscow tightens its grip at home while testing resolve abroad, the world is once again confronted with a central question: What drives Vladimir Putin, and what legacy will he leave behind?
A Childhood in the Ruins
Born in Leningrad in 1952, a city still scarred by the Siege of World War II, Putin grew up in a working-class family amid the bombed-out remnants of the Soviet dream. He was small, tough, often solitary. The now-famous anecdote of young Putin cornering a rat, only to have it turn on him, became a psychological parable many analysts would return to—especially in light of his zero-sum approach to both domestic dissent and foreign policy.
His father, a war veteran, was injured by shrapnel. His two elder brothers died before he was born. That atmosphere of loss and deprivation would help shape his appetite for survival, discipline, and control.
Putin found an outlet in judo and sambo, Soviet martial arts that stressed balance, patience, and brutal efficiency. He also became a student of languages—especially German. These skills eventually opened the door to the KGB, the shadowy world of Soviet state security, where Putin would spend the first act of his adult life.
A Spy Shaped by Collapse
In the mid-1980s, Putin was stationed in East Germany. Fluent in German and loyal to the Communist Party, he worked as a liaison between Soviet intelligence and the East German secret police, the Stasi. But history was not on his side.
In 1989, as the Berlin Wall fell, Putin stood helpless in Dresden, phoning Soviet commanders for reinforcements against protesters. “Moscow is silent,” came the reply.
The image of the empire’s collapse—sudden, humiliating, and driven by popular revolt—left a profound impression on him. He returned to Russia hardened, suspicious of disorder, and deeply skeptical of Western triumphalism. In his own words, the Soviet collapse was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.”
From City Bureaucrat to Kremlin Gatekeeper
Back in Russia, now renamed and unraveling, Putin quietly transitioned into politics. He joined the mayor’s office in St. Petersburg under his former law professor, Anatoly Sobchak. There, he cut his teeth in administrative power—managing foreign investment and forming ties with local elites.
When Sobchak lost office in 1996, Putin made the crucial move to Moscow. Within three years, he was head of the FSB, Russia’s main security agency, and then Yeltsin’s chosen prime minister.
The oligarchs who helped engineer Putin’s rise believed they had found a loyal steward. They would be proven wrong.
Chechnya and the Cult of Strength
Putin’s ascent was sealed in blood. In late 1999, a series of deadly apartment bombings rocked Moscow. The government blamed Chechen separatists, and Putin, now acting president, vowed vengeance. The Second Chechen War began, and Grozny was turned to rubble.
His tough stance—“waste them in the outhouse,” he famously said—won public approval. Russians, humiliated in the 1990s and desperate for order, rallied behind the strongman.
By March 2000, Putin was elected president. He wasted no time consolidating power.
From Oligarchs to Loyalists
Within his first term, Putin delivered a chilling message to Russia’s oligarchs: stay out of politics, or face consequences. Media tycoons Vladimir Gusinsky and Boris Berezovsky were forced into exile. Oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested and stripped of his empire. Those who remained—like judo partner Arkady Rotenberg—were rewarded with lucrative state contracts.
By reshaping the elite, Putin didn’t just centralize power. He personalized it. Loyalty became the currency of survival. Independent institutions—from courts to media—were either subdued or neutered.
This new ruling class, often drawn from the siloviki (security services), became the bedrock of Putin’s long rule.
The West and the Rise of Paranoia
In the early 2000s, Putin flirted with the West. He spoke of partnership with NATO and was the first foreign leader to call George W. Bush after the 9/11 attacks.
But the honeymoon ended quickly. The Iraq War, NATO’s eastward expansion, and Western support for “color revolutions” in Ukraine and Georgia fed Putin’s suspicion that the West sought not cooperation—but regime change in Moscow.
By 2007, in a now-famous Munich speech, he publicly accused the United States of overreach and “unipolar arrogance.”
Crimea, Sanctions, and the New Cold War
In 2014, following Ukraine’s Euromaidan protests and the ousting of pro-Russian President Yanukovych, Putin struck back. Russian forces annexed Crimea and stoked war in eastern Ukraine. The West responded with sanctions; Putin responded with defiance.
His approval ratings soared. Crimea became a nationalist rallying cry. But the economic cost was real, and global isolation deepened.
Years later, the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 would mark an even more dangerous turn—transforming Putin from a strategic autocrat to an embattled wartime leader. Tens of thousands dead. Millions displaced. Sanctions multiplied. Yet the Kremlin persisted, reshaping the Russian economy around wartime needs and deepening ties with China, Iran, and the Global South.
What Drives Him Now?
Putin is no longer a politician with opponents. He is a ruler with enemies. Dissent is crushed. The opposition has been decimated, from the exile of Alexei Navalny to the deadly plane crash that killed Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in 2023.
Yet his worldview remains rooted in a desire for control: of history, of borders, of Russia’s destiny. The fear of revolution—whether from NATO or the Russian street—continues to shape his every move.
As he turns 72, there is little public discussion of succession. Constitutional changes in 2020 allow him to rule until 2036. But questions of health, elite competition, and eventual transition loom large. A post-Putin Russia is unthinkable for some—and inevitable for all.
A Shadow over the 21st Century
Vladimir Putin’s 25-year rule is not just the story of one man. It is the story of a generation shaped by collapse, war, and lost greatness. For Russians, it has meant stability at the price of freedom. For the West, it has meant a return to confrontation. For the world, it remains an open chapter in the drama of modern geopolitics.
Whether history will remember him as a restorer of order or an authoritarian who squandered Russia’s potential will depend on what happens next—in Ukraine, in Moscow, and in the uncertain years ahead.
