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20.06.07
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From Zero To Hero
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By Shaun Walker
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Exhibition Charts the Rise of Vladimir Putin
A photographic exhibition that opens today in Moscow called “The Four Seasons of Vladimir Putin” charts the rise of Russia's president during his seven years in office. Moscow continues to buzz with talk of “Operation Successor,” and analysts state that while it now seems unlikely that the constitution will be changed to allow Putin a third term, it's quite possible that he might return in 2012 or even before. So it seems like a good time to reflect on how the Russian president went from a nobody to a well-beloved figure.
The exhibit, housed in part of the Winzavod complex, features a series of black and white photographs by Kommersant photographer Dmitry Azarov, with captions by Kommersant reporter Andrei Kolesnikov. The pair have spent almost all Putin's time in office as part of the Kremlin pool of journalists, following the Russian leader around and observing him at close quarters.
When he became prime minister in 1999, Putin seemed to be nothing more than a gray blur; another faceless bureaucrat with little charisma shunted into the limelight by the aging Boris Yeltsin, probably to be removed a few months later; a balding, undersized and unassuming man with little charisma or ability to win public affection. But Putin went on to become such a popular and powerful leader that, now his term is nearly over, it seems impossible that anyone could replace him.
The pictures on display were all taken at official press opportunities – international meetings and summits, or sorties to converse with the Russian people – but many of them capture unusual or telling expressions. “I walked around yesterday, and it's amazing how different all the expressions on his face are,” said Azarov, on the sidelines of the exhibition's preview. “You can't really tell that when they're in an album, but now I see them full-size, it's clear. Maybe the emotions are artificial, but I don't think so.” Almost none of the photographs have been published before, but Azarov said that this was not due to any political reasons. “Kommersant is a reasonably free paper, so we can publish whatever photos we like. But we've chosen for this exhibition photos that for reasons of space, or whatever else, didn't make it into the newspaper,” he said.
There are many photographs with other world leaders – from U.S. President George W. Bush to Uzbekistan's Islam Karimov. The dry caption to the latter reads - “Putin and Karimov in 2005. Putin had his birthday. Meanwhile, Karimov had Andijan.” A close-up shot of Viktor Yushchenko's hideously disfigured face from 2004 has Putin in the background with what for all the world looks like a cheeky half-smile. Nearby, a shot of Viktor Yanukovich from 2006, after he'd been elected prime minister, sees Putin sporting a smug look of satisfaction.
Other events of Putin's presidency are recounted through the pictures, some monumental, others farcical. Putin is seen with a broad, childlike grin, inspecting a ring proffered by U.S. businessman Robert Kraft. Kraft had given Putin the ring just to look at, but the Russian president, “being used to receiving such things as gifts,” promptly pocketed it. When the media broke the story, Putin returned the ring to its owner.
The introductory text for “Summer” - the second season – recalls an event in 2001 when Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov invited the governors of Russia's southern regions to a meeting. The governors gathered in Dagestan and were preparing to fly and meet Maskhadov, but three hours before their departure, Putin flew into the republic and called off the meeting. Putin almost never raises his voice in anger, and, this was apparently one of the only times he can remember doing so, according to Kolesnikov. “It seems that it was at this point that the southern governors realized that a president really had emerged,” reads the text. “Perhaps, it was at this point that Vladimir Putin also realized this.”
The third season is known as the “dead season” the time when tragedies befell Russia – the Kursk incident, the Beslan school siege, and the arrest of Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which Kolesnikov calls “Putin's biggest mistake.”
Kolesnikov writes regular, lengthy articles for Kommersant, which are often filled more with musings on the significance of the minutae of the way the president drank his cup of tea, looked at a visiting dignitary, or used a particular tone of voice, rather than with traditional political “news.” He writes about Putin in a way that few Russian journalists would dare to or be allowed to, frequently poking fun at the president. It was Kolesnikov who broke the story of Putin's remarks to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, when he believed the microphone to be off and asked the Israeli leader to congratulate his president on the manliness it must have taken to rape multiple women.
After this and multiple other articles that are at odds with the sanitized version of Putin portrayed on the state-controlled television channels and much of the rest of the media, it seems something of a surprise that Kolesnikov is still in the Kremlin pool – it certainly doesn't fit with the image of the Kremlin as unwilling to take any criticism whatsoever. Indeed, when Putin met with journalists from G8 countries in the run up to this year's summit in Germany, and one correspondent from each G8 country was chosen to attend the meeting at his residence, it was Kolesnikov who was selected to attend, out of all the possible Russian journalists.
“He's never said anything to me directly, but I don't think he likes my reporting,” said Kolesnikov, on the sidelines of the preview. “But, while before he used to pay a lot of attention to what was being written about him and get offended at journalists, now I think he doesn't pay that much attention – he's too busy getting offended at other politicians, whether it's the U.S. president or the NATO secretary general.”
In the text for the final season, Kolesnikov writes that he is certain that Putin will not change the constitution to stay on as president. “He'll travel a lot, and will want to see the things that he saw from the window of a car with the eyes of the president with his own eyes.” But the stature of Putin is now so great among Russian politicians and the public, that even when he does step down in 2008, people will be wondering if he won't make a swift comeback – for a fifth season. |
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