The Man Without A Face summary

After he graduated from Leningrad University in 1975, Putin’s dream of working for the secret service became a reality. For most of his career with the KGB, however, he was a paper pusher, not a spy.

He spent four years in the 1980s working for the KGB in East Germany; what’s more, he was posted to Dresden, not Berlin. His work consisted of collecting newspaper clippings and writing reports.

When Putin returned to Russia, he found a country changing rapidly and profoundly. The pinnacle was when the KGB, in cooperation with government hardliners, attempted a coup against Mikhail Gorbachev.

Gorbachev had, as part of his reform program called “glasnost” (openness), freed imprisoned dissidents, rescinded hardline policies made under Stalin, and gave Russians access to previously banned books and Western radio.

After the failed coup, both Putin and Sobchak took advantage of Russia’s political and financial chaos to line their own pockets.

In May 1991, Russia suffered a food shortage. Putin negotiated with a German company to import meat to Russia; yet in return, as Russia had no cash, he agreed to export some $92 million worth of natural resources.

Once communism was over, the hopes the Russian populace put in President Yeltsin quickly soured.

Even though life improved somewhat, with people able to travel abroad, buy more products and enjoy a freer press, the economic situation was grim and the inequality gap had widened tremendously. By 1998, Russia had defaulted on its foreign debt.

A series of terrorist bombings gave Putin the chance to reinforce his presidential credentials by responding with ruthless and deadly force.

In September 1999, hundreds of Russians died in a string of apartment bombings. The blame was thrown at native Chechens, who sought independence from Russia.

Putin’s policies created a climate of fear. Some entrepreneurs were able to take advantage of the profits amid privatization, yet those who disagreed with Putin were quickly cut down, losing their fortunes or their freedom. Some even lost their life.

Entrepreneur Vladimir Gusinsky created a media empire, establishing Russia’s first independent television channel. Yet Gusinsky didn’t support Putin’s presidential campaign, and aired a program that implied the involvement of the secret police in the 1999 apartment bombings.

When Putin first entered politics in the 1990s, he was viewed as incorruptible. This first impression soon changed drastically.

Putin has an estimated $40 billion in assets, including a palace on the Black Sea worth $1 billion, all of it accumulated through unabashed thievery and shady business deals. But how did he do it?

It could be that only in the 1990s was Russia a quasi-democratic country. As he came to power, Putin crushed this democratic progress and placed restraints on a free media.

In March 2000, Putin was elected president with 53 percent of the vote and without a campaign.

You can’t have missed the press photos of Putin conquering nature, riding bare-chested on horseback. It is crucial for him to appear strong and powerful at all times.

Other shots have Putin subduing wild animals like Siberian tigers or polar bears, but environmental bloggers or locals claim that these animals were taken from a zoo or captured days before.