[Details] What kind of person is Russian President Vladimir Putin? Analysis by Ishikawa commentator

Russian President Vladimir Putin is getting more and more criticized by the international community.

What kind of person is he in the first place?

What exactly is he thinking?

For many years, we interviewed Russia and asked NHK's commentator Ishikawa, who is also familiar with President Putin, and experts to analyze his career and personality in an easy-to-understand manner.

1. War affects the outlook on life 2. The keywords

of two national bankruptcies and crises

have emerged.

What kind of person are you?

You're a patriot.

It is important to know the key from the background of President Putin.

Born October 7, 1952 in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, western Russia.

World War II was already over, but Leningrad was a war that was besieged by German troops for 900 days, killing many civilians in bombing and hunger.

In fact, his father was a soldier and was seriously injured in the war.

His mother survived the German siege, but she is said to have been on the verge of starvation.

And his brother died during the war.

In other words, he was born and raised in a fresh family with great scars from the war.

That's why Putin has a strong desire to win the war and win.

I think there is a feeling of victory that was won at the cost of that much.

What made you decide to go on the political path?

There are two triggers.

One is judo.

Putin said that he was "a bad boy who hated school" when he was a boy, and it is said that judo changed that.

Professor Kenro Nagoshi of the Institute for Overseas Affairs, Takushoku University, who is familiar with Russian politics, points out that judo also influenced Mr Putin's personality and led to his entry into the KGB.

And the other is that I joined the former Soviet KGB = National Security Board.

Mr Putin says that he longed for spies when he saw a movie with a spy as the main character when he was a boy, and volunteered to join the KGB before entering university and immediately after graduating from high school in Japan.

However, the KGB was only recruited, so he enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the University of Leningrad following the advice of a KGB interviewer.

Then he was recruited.

At that time, the KGB and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs only allowed excellent people, so it seems that their grades and judo were excellent.

What has been President Putin since joining the KGB?

In the former Soviet era, the KGB was said to be a nation within the nation.

The former Soviet Union was a centralized empire, supported by the Communist Party and the KGB.

The KGB has two major organizations, the public security police and security police in charge of the domestic market, and the foreign intelligence agency in charge of foreign countries.

Mr Putin belonged to an external intelligence agency.

He was dispatched to Dresden, East Germany.

At that time, Germany was divided into the democratic camp West Germany and the communist camp East Germany, but on October 3, 1990, East and West Germany unified.

At that time, Mr Putin witnessed the collapse of the country.

Mr Putin has experienced the collapse of East Germany, the collapse of the former Soviet Union, and the collapse of the nation twice, but it seems that the first experience at this time also had a great influence after Mr Putin. ..

After the collapse of East Germany?

Returning to his hometown of St. Petersburg, he will work at his alma mater, Leningrad University, as an assistant president of international affairs while belonging to the KGB.

I think this was actually a subtle feeling in his career.

Putin's colleague is returning to the headquarters in Moscow.

By this time, I was already married and had two children.

At the end of the former Soviet Union, the dollar became valuable against its own currency, the ruble, so salaries alone could not feed families.

Putin was a so-called "white taxi", a taxi driver, who also supported his family around this time.

What was the life of the Soviet Union at that time?

At that time, the value of rubles fell sharply, and the salary of civil servants was about 200 rubles at best.

The official rate of the US dollar was 1 dollar and 1 ruble, but the dark rate, which more reflected the reality, steadily fell the ruble and the dollar rose.

I think it was about $ 1.500 rubles in the middle of 1991.

At that time, $ 50 was about 25,000 rubles, so I think I managed to live for about a month with $ 50.

At that time, the easiest way was to earn a white taxi.

The driver of a black-painted official car even made a white taxi between work hours.

Many German tourists come to St. Petersburg.

I think it was natural for Mr Putin, who is fluent in German, to earn foreign currency while doing white taxi.

What is Putin's reputation in the KGB?

I don't know the specific achievements, but if you look only at your career, you can see that the evaluation from your boss was not very good.

At the KGB, talented people will be assigned to Western countries, but Mr Putin will be assigned to East Germany.

Moreover, Dresden, not Berlin.

After the collapse of East Germany, he returned to his hometown of St. Belburg instead of the headquarters and worked at the university.

He even worked as a taxi driver to earn his family's living expenses.

From these things, I don't think he was evaluated by the KGB and was on his way to success.

Rather, it is off the so-called career advancement course, and at this point no one could have predicted that Mr Putin would subsequently become president.

But I was lucky.

At this time, if he had been on the KGB career track, he would not have entered the world of politics, much less the president.

Looking at Mr Putin, I feel lucky and lucky rather than his intention.

What was the big turning point?

The collapse of the Soviet Union.

Putin calls the collapse of the Soviet Union a tragedy, but ironically, if the Soviet Union did not collapse, Putin would not have made a big success, let alone the top of the country.

Around this time the Soviet Union was about to collapse, Putin, who was working as an assistant to the president of his alma mater's university, met a person.

Mr. Sobchak, a professor at his alma mater, Leningrad University, who later became the mayor of St. Petersburg.

Around this time, the one-party rule of the Communist Party collapsed, the anti-Communist group Democratic Russia became the majority in the local assembly, and the mayor also became a democratic party.

The mayor of the democracy was Mr. Sobchak, and Mr Putin met at the recommendation of the president of the university.

He was liked by Mayor Sapchak, who was looking for a capable bureaucrat who could do business, and was appointed as Deputy Mayor in charge of international economic cooperation.

This was a major turning point in his life.

What did Putin, who became a "democratic", do?

In August 1991, the Communist Party conservatives, such as the KGB, who had a sense of crisis about Mr. Gorbachev's reforms, set up a coup d'etat.

This led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In this coup, Putin took an anti-KGB position with Sobchak, even though he was a KGB employee.

And in the midst of a coup, he resigned and quit the KGB, where he had worked for many years.

While Putin has a strong attachment to the former Soviet Union, it also has this real side.

Professor Putin commented on Mr Putin's actions, "I tried to get on the flow of history. He was in a position to protect the Soviet regime as a KGB, but took an anti-KGB position at the last minute. From there, the nation survives. It seems that a new sense of mission has been born that we must build a powerful power mechanism in order to do so. "

After the collapse of the Soviet Union?

He is trusted by Mr. Sobchak, who became the mayor of St. Petersburg, and is appointed as the first deputy mayor and in charge of international economics.

At that time, during the turmoil after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was a very important job such as accepting humanitarian assistance such as food from foreign countries.

After that, Mr. Sobchak lost the election and was temporarily unemployed, but with the help of a former colleague who had moved from St. Petersburg's municipal administration to Cheong Wa Dae, he took up a key position in Cheong Wa Dae.

From there, I will continue to advance in a hurry.

He has served as Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary and FSB-Federal Security Service Secretary, and was overtaken by then-President Yeltsin as Prime Minister in 1999.

He was nominated as a successor by President Yeltsin and was elected for the first time in the 2000 presidential election.

Why do you get ahead with a ton ton?

Mr Putin seems to have been the type of person who was honest and exhaustive to his boss.

He seems to have honestly confessed, "He is actually a KGB employee," when he was called by Mr. Sobchak as Deputy Mayor.

He did everything he could to get out of the KGB he belonged to and gained a lot of trust.

And he finally came to have the authority to be called the Gray Principal of Mayor Sapchak.

Also, after he entered Cheong Wa Dae, he devoted himself to President Yeltsin at that time.

It is said that during his time as FSB Secretary, the scandal of the prosecutor-general, who was investigating allegations of corruption in the family and aides of President Yeltsin at that time, was publicized and dismissed.

At that time, Russia defaulted on Russian government bonds in 1998, and President Yeltsin was rattling, and if he retired, the Yeltsin family would be tried and denounced by the people, and there was a risk of going to deaf prison.

Putin has saved President Yeltsin from the predicament.

I think that the reason why he was nominated as a successor was that President Yeltsin thought that he was a "reliable successor candidate who would protect them."

From this, we can see that he has earned his trust by devoting himself to his boss and producing results.

What about your subordinates and colleagues?

When Putin came to power, he called his aides to the KGB during the East German era and his colleagues and colleagues during the St. Petersburg era.

His subordinates during the time of the First Deputy Mayor of St. Petersburg have since held important positions.

For example, Mr. Medvejev, who will become president at one time, and Mr. Sechin, who is the top of the state-owned energy company.

You can see that my aides have such a reliable and familiar person.

On the other hand, Mr Putin himself is a person who has been thoroughly evaluated and overtaken by his boss.

He himself seems to think that he was evaluated for his work, rather than taking the position he asked for.

Because of this, he seems to tend to value the same type of subordinates.

It seems that I tend to evaluate people who are dedicated to the work and duties they are given, rather than the type that appeals to me, according to their achievements.

Also, regarding his personality, some people who know Mr Putin say, "Keep your promise, be kind, and cherish your friends." I've heard that there is also the terrifying aspect of slowly rehabilitating over three years.

What did you do with the president?

When Mr Putin took office, the first thing he set out was "stability" and "patriotism."

It also plans to implement economic reforms, resume unpaid pension payments, and double GDP in 10 years.

High resource prices will be a tailwind and will be realized in just a few years.

After paying off the debt of the former Soviet Union in 2006, Russia will be strong against the international community.

In his 2007 speech in Munich, Germany, President Putin publicly criticized America's unipolar rule and expressed Russia's position for multipolarization.

He clarifies his position as a challenger to America's unilateral domination.

And he also makes clear his position that he does not allow further expansion of NATO into the former Soviet Union.

What do the people think?

The positive evaluation of President Putin has always exceeded 60%.

The main reasons are "stability" and "patriotism".

During the 20th century, Russia has experienced the turmoil of revolutions, wars and failed states.

Even in the last 30 years, the Soviet Union has collapsed and became Russia.

I was wondering if the people would change from communism to democracy and their lives would improve, but in 1998 the national finances collapsed and their lives became difficult.

It seems that many people in Russia have been forced into a situation like "identity crisis", which is what happens to Russia.

Most of the people have come to want "stability" rather than freedom and democracy, where "change" is only a bad thing.

Meanwhile, Mr Putin, who became president, set out "stability" and "patriotism" and actually implemented the policy.

President Putin is a politician who has responded to the needs of the people.

The Russian people consider Putin to be a good emperor who thinks of Narod (the people).

Right now, the gap between President Putin and his people is widening.

The people want to maintain little happiness, while the greatness of the country is important.

However, Putin may have thought that the people wanted great Russia, and that he thought he would be the savior of Russia, so to speak.