Journalist discusses ‘remarkable story’ of Putin’s rise

His resilience and ability to adapt to leadership over time is the most surprising thing about Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to New York Times correspondent Steven Lee Myers.

Myers spoke Wednesday night in the Lewis Katz Building on the Penn State campus about his newly republished book “The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin” to an audience of 200.

“How he emerged from nothing to become the leader of the country is a remarkable story, it’s almost unbelievable,” Myers said.

Myers is a correspondent in the New York Times’ Washington bureau where he covers foreign policy and national security issues. Myers previously worked in Russia from 2002 to 2007 and in 2013 and 2014, and worked in Iraq from 2009 to 2011.

After the USSR was dissolved, Putin returned to Moscow with very few job prospects. “Putin signed up with one of the democratic leaders of the time (Anatoly Sobchak),” Myers said.

In 1996, after seeing Sobchak lose the election, Putin joined Boris Yeltsin’s administration and became acting president in 1999, when Yeltsin resigned. “Yeltsin was looking for somebody … to preserve the country.”

Myers said he doesn’t think Yeltsin anticipated that Putin would take the country on an authoritative course “and some people … close to him have said that it was one of his big regrets.”

Putin won the 2000 presidential elections and remained in power for two terms, until 2008, when he reached the maximum time allowed in.

“He could have changed the constitution in 2008,” Myers said. “Putin always said no and I think it’s because he craves international legitimacy.” He continued, saying that if you win elections, you have gained some legitimacy as a leader.

Myers first thought about writing a book in 2008. “The reason I didn’t is because I didn’t know if he was going to really leave,” Myers said.

“In 2012, he decided that he needed to come back,” Myers said. Since then, the constitution has changed, and presidential terms are now six years instead of four, “but still, there are two term limits.”

Myers also said that today’s elections in Russia are “almost a charade.” “What Russia needs is checks and balances, but they have none now and the parliament is a joke, it’s not seen as a serious check at all.”

Myers finally decided to start on his book the day Putin announced that he would be returning as president.

Myers partially attributes Putin’s consolidation of power to the rise of oil. “It allowed him to achieve what he accomplished.” Myers said. “Living in Moscow, now, today, is probably better. The oil and energy boom of the first decade of this … allowed a lot of money to be spread out through the economy despite the crash.”

Myers’s book details Putin’s modest beginnings and his growth through the former Russian secret police and intelligence agency, more popularly known as the KGB, along with his eventual rise to the presidency of Russia. Myers outlines Putin’s autocratic style of leading and includes recent conflicts that highlight this style.

“He always wins,” Myers said, “and that drives people crazy.” 　　

This story was originally published September 8, 2016 at 12:04 AM with the headline "Journalist discusses ‘remarkable story’ of Putin’s rise."