Gravitas Plus | Ukraine War: Understanding Russian President Vladimir Putin

hello and welcome to gravitas plus i'm palki sharma our world is at war the man waging it is vladimir putin he is the president of russia for the longest time putin kept the world guessing will there be war in ukraine will there not be a war in ukraine then one morning he decided to shock the world he invaded ukraine and dared the world to stop him if you interfere from outside you will face consequences he said consequences greater than any you have faced in history where does putin get this nerve from in 2008 he sent troops to georgia in 2014 he announced crimea it's 2022 and vladimir putin has single-handedly put europe in a spot he has launched a multi-frontal attack on ukraine people are calling putin the new hitler the nazi dictator who wanted to unify greater germany so he sent nazi troops in the area between the third reich and the sudetenland region in czechoslovakia it was home to many german-speaking communities just like donbass is home to many russian-speaking communities putin too is following hitler's playbook he wants to unify his motherland so he has sent tanks and troops to ukraine he has invaded a european country in the year 2022 again where does putin get this nerve from putin's grandfather worked as a cook for joseph stalin but that's actually irrelevant here experts believe putin picked his dictatorial traits from a former boss putin was once the deputy mayor of saint petersburg his boss was the city's mayor his name was anatoly sabchuk putin admired him and is said to have subconsciously picked his traits today putin's authoritarianism is out in the open ukraine says parallels between putin and hitler are not a meme anymore they are ukraine's reality you see if we have to understand the war in ukraine we must first understand vladimir putin the man who is pulling the strings of this war what's in his mind what has shaped his life so where do we start you would know that vladimir putin was once a kgb agent kgb was the soviet spy agency when putin was training for it in 1975 his trainers found out a flaw in the young man they said putin had a diminished sense of danger in other words what may seem dangerous to you and me may not seem dangerous to vladimir putin he acknowledges this in his biography he says back in his kgb days a negative trait often ascribed to him was his lowered sense of danger the spy agency considered this a very serious flaw well they were not wrong look at what's happening now putin's dangerous invasion in ukraine which leader today would dare to send tanks into another country which leader would be unafraid of repercussions putin has been exhibiting this diminished sense of danger since his childhood he was born in october 1952 in the soviet city of leningrad his parents belonged to the working class they lived in a soviet-style apartment and shared the space with two other families while most children picked up humble sports putin decided to pursue a martial art called while most school boys dreamt of becoming a doctor or a fighter pilot or something glamorous putin dreamt of becoming a spy he first set foot into the kgb headquarters when he was still in his teens he graduated from the leningrad state university in 1975 and went straight to join the kgb he was posted in east germany where he mastered smokes and mirrors long before ukraine crimea or georgia he wrote a campaign biography it is based on one-on-one interviews in one of these interviews putin recounts an incident from his university days he says he was driving a car his martial arts coach was with him they were on a road outside leningrad when putin saw a farm truck passing them he tried to grab a piece of hay through the car window next thing you know he's nearly lost control of the car the coach is scared and furious he turns to putin and says you take risks putin replies i thought the hay smelled good which person looking to lead a country would tell such a story to his voters like he's james bond or something chasing death casually and bragging about it which leader would project himself as impulsive this book i'm talking about was published in the year 2000 the year vladimir putin became the president of russia for the first time things have changed rapidly for him since the collapse of the soviet union in 1991 putin became the deputy mayor of saint petersburg in 1997 the deputy chief of the presidential staff a year later the head of the fsb the new spy agency the successor of the kgb putin was heading it in 1999 he became one of russia's first deputy prime ministers then prime minister and then president his career soared as russia's reputation tanked boris yeltsin russia's first president was corrupt drunk and a laughingstock plus yeltsin was too close to the west for putin's taste you see while the cold war was over its legacy remained and putin a former soviet spy could never really get himself to trust the west he could not ignore the fact that the nato was growing that all of these countries had become a part of this alliance even back in 1999 putin feared that nato would expand go on to include ex-soviet republics and ultimately surround russia he was frustrated that yeltsin was not doing enough to contain the nato putin dreamt of a russian state one that would be independent influential and feared chechnya gave him the opportunity to build that dream state the region had broken away from russia and chechen rebels had become a nuisance 1999 a series of blasts rocked russia more than 300 people were killed across several russian cities putin was the prime minister he began naming shaming and blaming chechens on live television he started holding regular press briefings he would whip up nationalistic emotions call chechens mad dogs putin vowed to avenge the blasts soon his approval rating soared from 2 before the bombings to 45 after them reports then emerged that putin may have faked these bombings that kgb agents could have planted the bombs why would they do that to help putin's popularity russia of course squashed this theory and went to war with chechnya at least 80 000 people were killed and chechnya was brought back to russia instead of gloating yeltsin suddenly resigned he named vladimir putin the country's acting president it was new year's eve 31st of december 1999 putin was married to a former flight attendant she had no idea her husband was becoming the president of russia putin had known about this for days but he never told his wife he did not tell her he would be the next president that's how secretive vladimir putin can be reports say the russian parliament had no clue about his plans of invading ukraine either yes he asked for permission to send troops to foreign lands but the lawmakers never thought he would actually attack ukraine in fact putin never even needed that permission he is the commander-in-chief of the russian armed forces he can send troops wherever he likes so going to the parliament was a stunt and putin likes stunts he once dived deep into the black sea came up with two ancient greek urns putin said he fetched the relics from the floor of the black sea it was later revealed the show was staged we have seen putin fishing arm wrestling posing bare-chested riding a horse a harley-davidson showing off his butterfly skills in water co-piloting a jet attaching a satellite transmitter to a tiger hunting it seems putin can survive the wild better than bear grylls putin is talented he's tough he's also the controller of facts and the teller of his own story just like his story of ukraine one where russia is the victim the people of donbass are victims and a democratically elected government in kiev is full of nazis so putin has decided to send troops on a de-nazification mission buildings have been flattened innocent civilians have been killed why because the russian president thinks ukraine and russia are one and he does not let anything come between him and his motherland even if that means keeping secrets from his wife or not attending to his daughter that's another story it is said that when putin was the mayor of saint petersburg his daughter met with an accident she was injured he was at work so he sent his deputy to attend to the little girl that's vladimir putin for you he once refused to read a book by a soviet defector he said he did not read books by people who had betrayed the motherland if you are looking to interpret the current war in ukraine try reading it from putin's point of view if you want to know what will happen next try gauging it through putin's eyes he's a boy from a working class family who climbed his way to the kremlin and became the face of moscow he has the backing of powerful kgb officers he has russia's richie rich on his side he has been in power for 22 years now he has dragged russia into many wars meddled in the affairs of his neighbors beat belarus or azerbaijan he has locked up oligarchs who did not align with him silenced critics who challenged him putin has poisoned russians abroad he has cracked down on the lgbtq community at home tamed the media and recently arrested those protesting the war in ukraine and ukraine may just be the start a 2020 vote made vladimir putin russia's president for life in the last 14 years he has gone to war thrice he will remain in power until 2036 that's 14 more years and 13 more soviet republics to go [Music]

Channel: WION

Views: 4,851,476

Keywords: russia ukraine war, ukraine russia war, ukraine, russia ukraine, russia, russia ukraine news, russia ukraine conflict, ukraine russia, ukraine russia conflict, russia vs ukraine, ukraine russia news, ukraine war, russia ukraine border, ukraine and russia, russia ukraine crisis, russia war ukraine, russia ukraine tensions, ukraine crisis, russia vs ukraine war update, russia vs ukraine war update live, russia war, ukraine news, ukraine russia border, Gravitas Plus

Id: WJLnZ_rNLOU

Length: 9min 47sec (587 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 26 2022