Robin Ashenden

Why was the West so slow to see Putin’s true colours?

Vladimir Putin meets Leonardo DiCaprio in 2010 (Credit: Getty images)

Cast your mind back just over a decade, to a charity benefit gig in St. Petersburg in 2010. Sharon Stone, Kevin Costner, Gerard Depardieu, Vincent Cassel, Goldie Hawn and Monica Belluci are in the audience. But the star-turn is performed by a man from another branch of entertainment altogether (‘show-business for ugly people’) who in a warbling voice is giving us his rendition of Fats Domino’s ‘Blueberry Hill.’ The stars clap and beam at this new addition to their ranks – the man then taking time off as president to play Russia’s prime minister and, on special occasions, chanteur to the stars: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

In this, you might argue, the celebrities are only following fashion. In 2007, Putin was named ‘Person of the Year’ by Time magazine. ‘He’s not a good guy, but he’s done extraordinary things,’ explained Time managing editor Richard Stengel, ‘…he doesn’t care about free speech; he cares about stability. But stability is what Russia needed and that’s why Russians adore him.’ Its website added that Putin embodied the spirit of ‘Mother Russia.’ This came a year after the assassination of ex-FSB-operative Aleksandr Litvinenko with polonium in London.

Putin had been lucky, in a way, to follow the free-for-all chaos of the Yeltsin years

Or recall when Russia hosted the World Cup in 2018, and British newspapers wrote almost sheepishly of the improvement to Russia’s international image. ‘So did the British media get Russia wrong?’ asked Shaun Walker in the Guardian. ‘Well, perhaps a bit.’ He went on to enthuse about ‘the positive atmosphere’ during the World Cup, ‘the surprisingly lax police presence, the good-natured welcome from the majority of Russians,’ concluding, ‘I do wonder if us foreign correspondents could have done a better job of explaining the country.’

The BBC, while mentioning concerns about ‘the country’s commitment to democracy, human rights and the international order,’ said Putin had scored ‘a resounding public relations success.’

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