On 7 October 2006, the widely respected Russian journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya, an outspoken critic of Putin’s government and propaganda, was murdered. The courageous Politkovskaya, who was not afraid to speak and write about the atrocities of the Russian president, was shot dead on his birthday…
On this anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s birthday we offer you six quotes from Anna Politkovskaya. They are based on her long-term observations of the Russian leader.
1. What reasons do I have to dislike Putin? There are many. For one, his artlessness, which is worse than theft. His cynicism and racism. His endless war and lies. The gassing at “Nord-Ost.” The corpses of innocent victims, accompanying his entire first term. Those are corpses which could have been avoided.
2. I often wonder if Putin is human at all, or a frozen or iron statue. I wonder and can’t find confirmation that he is a human being.
3. Putin, having accidentally received enormous power into his hands, administered it to catastrophic consequences for Russia. And I do not like him, because he does not like people. He can’t stand us. He despises us. He believes that we are a means him only, a means to achieve his own personal power goals. Therefore, he can do anything he wishes to us, plays with us as he pleases, destroys us, if he wishes. For him, we are nobody. And he, having accidentally scrambled to the top, is now a king and a god, whom everybody should worship and fear.
4. Putin has propped up his rule solely on the clay struts of the oligarchy – ordinary people did not find a place for themselves in this scheme. He is friends with some oligarchs, and fights with others, and it is this that we call supreme State Administration, when billionaires who have divided oil and gas reserves among themselves, have ultimate importance.
5. Why do I dislike Putin? For the years that pass by. This summer it will be five years since the second Chechen war was initiated for the sake of Putin’s first ascension to presidency, and it is still ongoing.
6. Putin’s style of politics displays deep personal resentment. Putin has many times publicly demonstrated that he fundamentally does not understand the purpose of a debate, especially a political debate. According to Putin, a discussion between a superior and his subordinates should not be possible.
