Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, April 6, 2022.
Many believe that history is largely determined by the personal relationships between world leaders. Vladimir Putin’s 25-year interaction with foreign leaders provides a fascinating case study of that theory.Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen attending a meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow on April 6, 2022. Many believe that history is largely determined by the personal relationships between world leaders.
Soviet-born Australian journalist Zoya Sheftalovich, who writes for Politico Europe, told CBC that Putin "is well-briefed, he knows what people's buttons are and he pushes them." "I think George W. Bush regrets having said that now, because it's not clear exactly where Putin's soul is," John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and national security adviser who met Putin numerous times, told CBC.
He points out that Putin was also having political opponents arrested and imprisoned. "It was clear from the very beginning, and yet … Western democratic countries deliberately chose to turn a blind eye on all these domestic authoritarian abuses."Beginning in 2012, Putin became more forceful with Western countries, something that became apparent in his first private meeting with then-French president Francois Hollande.
Yanukovych tried to put down the Maidan protest with police violence, but the demonstrators held their ground. After many casualties, Yanukovych fled the country on a helicopter in the dead of night."He saw Ukraine as a part of Russia, and he saw Euro Maidan as essentially the first part of a potential uprising that could eventually end in him being removed from power. So it was unacceptable to him that Euro Maidan had swept in and that these protests had removed his man from the job.
"That was the best way to tell the West that, you know, he's no longer playing by the rules…. Annexing territory is just a very important element of destroying the world order. Dictators, they're opportunists. Even Hitler was an opportunist, or Stalin. This is what made them really strong. So smell it, grab it, attack."He was still invited to 70th-anniversary commemorations of the Normandy invasion in France in June 2014. Hollande greeted him as an honoured guest.
According to MacKay, "Vladimir Putin came into this private session with other world leaders and went immediately to our prime minister … who had been quite vocal about Putin and his obvious plans for Crimea. Putin made a beeline for him, put his hand out … Prime minister Harper then looked at him and said, 'You need to get out of Crimea.' And Putin said, 'We're not in Crimea.
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