How The 1980s Shaped Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin walks along the embankment of the Elbe River during sightseeing tour of Dresden, Germany, before meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on October 11, 2006. (Dmitry Astakhov/Reuters)

How The 1980s Explains Vladimir Putin -- Fiona Hill & Clifford G. Gaddy, The Atlantic

As the Soviet system disintegrated, the Russian president was a young KGB agent serving in an isolated part of East Germany. Here's how the experience would shape him -- and his country.

In 1996, Vladimir Putin and a group of friends and acquaintances from St. Petersburg would gather in an idyllic lakeside setting -- barely an hour and a half north of the city. The location, on the Karelian Isthmus between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga, was only an hour and 20 minute's drive to the Finnish border, in an area that has variously been part of the Swedish Empire, the tsarist Russian empire, independent Finland, the Soviet Union, and now Russia. This was a wonderful place for Mr. Putin to reflect on the twists and turns of fate and Russia's evolving borders over the centuries. It also put Mr. Putin far away from the Russian center, Moscow.

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My Comment: Regular readers of this blog know that my nationality is Russian .... so this Atlantic article really hits home on many levels. This is an excellent analysis on Putin, and for anyone who is a Putin watcher, this is a must read.