Vladimir Putin is a name that puts many in a state of distress. The Russian president’s values and decisions always seem to be set in stone, and it’s a rare occurrence when he goes in a different way other than his own. Since Putin attacked Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the Russian president has been the talk of the town. Hence, it does raise the question of what influences him to make his decisions? Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych explained what makes Putin tick.
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The role of the KGB
Olexiy Arestovich is a political and military advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In a YouTube interview with Russian journalist Yulia Latynina, he explains what makes Putin tick and what is the psychology behind his actions.
Putin was trained by the Soviet secret service KGB. Arestovich explained the mindset of a KGB agent. He shared that the KGB agents are trained to gain as much trust as possible of their targets, whether an organization or just a single person, in order to find information. The point, he said, was to become as credible and trustworthy as possible. And as soon as they retrieved the information, they would betray their targets. He stated:
Such a mindset then becomes a kind of way of life, part of the DNA. The question is: What happens when you appoint such a man as head of state? How will he act?
He answered this question with a story from Putin's life. Putin's best friend is said to have been the Russian politician Sergei Ivanov. He was ‘the only one he really trusted’, Arestovich speculated.
Power takes precedence over friendship
Zelensky adviser Oleksiy Arestovych grows pessimistic about the war. “We have now lost to the Russian army in terms of pace. The Russian side managed to accumulate its reserves before we did.” He also says Ukrainian society grows more divided. Depression & infighting lie ahead. pic.twitter.com/zEFwA7dWYj
— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) May 25, 2022
Vladimir Putin had already announced in the Kremlin that Ivanov would be the next president. Russian politicians were enthusiastic and congratulated Ivanov. When Putin noticed how positively the others reacted to his announcement, he changed his mind and announced that Dmitry Medvedev would be his successor.
He even demoted his best friend Ivanov to a relatively unimportant position in the state environmental department. Zelenskyy's adviser Arestovich posed the question:
What is in the soul of a person who has decided to betray his best friend? For Putin, the personal advantage always trumps morality. When he has a choice between his best friend and power, he always chooses power.
This article is translated from Gentside DE.
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