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Until he was handpicked in August by then-President Boris Yeltsin to become prime minister, Putin had never been a public figure. He spent 17 years as a mid-level agent in the Soviet KGB’s foreign intelligence wing, rising only to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Later, as an aide to a prickly, controversial mayor of St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city and Putin’s home town, he made a point of staying in the background.

Yet Putin’s career also suggests that he witnessed firsthand the momentous finale of the Cold War. From the front line in East Germany, Putin saw how the centrally planned economies of the East staggered to disintegration. In St. Petersburg, he had a taste of the ragged path of Russia’s early transition to a free-market, democratic system.

What Putin has taken from these experiences is not entirely clear. He has embraced the conviction that “there is no alternative” to market democracy, and soberly acknowledged Russia’s economic weaknesses. But he also has expressed enthusiasm for reasserting the role of a strong state. He has said the Russian economy has become “criminalized,” but so far only hinted that he would tackle the powerful tycoons who lord over it. Putin has vowed Russia will not revert to totalitarianism, but he has not demonstrated much skill working with Russia’s fledgling, competitive political system.

Putin has never campaigned for office, and he told an interviewer two years ago he found campaigns distasteful. “One has to be insincere and promise something which you cannot fulfill,” he said. “So you either have to be a fool who does not understand what you are promising, or deliberately be lying.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/russiagov/putin.htm

“Felix Svetov, a writer who spent time in Stalin's prison camps as a child and who lost his father in the purges, was present at the writers meeting. He said Putin's comment “does not correspond with reality.” Putin is a typical KGB type, he added. “If the snow is falling, they will calmly tell you, the sun is shining.””

I was incorrect when I wrote that Putin was head of the KGB. I should have checked his title before I posted. But even as a mid level KGB officer Putin played a part in supporting the brutal and corrupt communist system.

As a KGB officer Putin would have been an expert in disinformation. The article was in the Washington Post, a newspaper very sympathetic to the Communist Party and the former Soviet Union. I take the article with a grain of salt. It is meant to portray Putin's career in the best possible light.

Late in the article, Svetov, a Russian writer, gave a more accurate assessment of Putin.

Putin has proved to be an intelligent and capable prime minister. The Soviet Union has seen economic growth under his regime.

But my point was that it was stupid to equate Putin to Ronald Reagan. Putin is at his essence a liar and a thug. Reagan was a great President, a great leader and a man who helped to bring to an end the evil empire that Putin worked for.