President Putin has ruled Russia for 25 years, but does he ‘look after’ the country, asked Steve Rosenberg.

I will never forget New Year 1999.

I was working as a producer in the BBC’s Moscow bureau. Suddenly, breaking news came out. Russian President Boris Yeltsin has resigned.

His decision to resign surprised everyone, including the British press corps in Moscow. There were no correspondents in the office when the news broke. This meant I had to step in to write and broadcast my first BBC dispatch.

“Boris Yeltsin always said he would serve out his full term,” I wrote. “Today he told the Russians that he had changed his mind.”

That was the beginning of my journalistic career.

And Vladimir Putin began to take office as Russia’s leader.

After Yeltsin resigned, Prime Minister Putin became acting president according to the Russian Constitution. Three months later he won the election.

As he left the Kremlin, Yeltsin gave Putin parting instructions: “Take care of Russia!”

As Russia’s war in Ukraine approaches its third year, I am reminded of Yeltsin’s words more and more.

This is because President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine had enormous consequences.

This is mainly the case in Ukraine, where there has been massive destruction and casualties in cities. Nearly 20% of the territory was occupied, and 10 million citizens became refugees.

But the same is true for Russia.

I have been reporting on President Putin since he came to power 25 years ago.

Who would have thought on December 31, 1999 that Russia’s new leader would still be in power 25 years later? Or will today’s Russia go to war with Ukraine and confront the West?

I often wonder whether the course of history would have been very different if Yeltsin had chosen someone else to succeed him. Of course, the problem is academic. History is full of what ifs and maybes.

One thing I can say for sure is that over 25 years I have seen many different Presidents Putin.

And I’m not the only one.

“The Putin I met, with whom I did good business and founded the NATO-Russia Council, is very different from this Putin, who is now almost a megalomaniac.” Former NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson told me in 2023:

“The man who stood next to me in May 2002 and said that Ukraine was a sovereign, independent nation-state that would make its own decisions about its security is now the man who says (Ukraine) is not a nation-state.

“I think President Vladimir Putin is very thin-skinned and has great ambitions for his country. The Soviet Union was recognized as the second superpower in the world. Russia has no claims in that direction. And I think that has eroded. His pride.”

This is one possible explanation for the change we have seen in Putin. His burning ambition to “make Russia great again” (and to undo what many perceive as Moscow’s defeat in the Cold War) has set Russia on an inevitable collision course with Russia. The same goes for our neighbors – and the West.

The Kremlin has a different explanation.

From his speeches and comments, President Putin appears to be driven by anger and a general feeling that Russia has been lied to and disrespected for years and that its security concerns have been ignored by the West.

But does Putin himself believe that he has fulfilled Yeltsin’s call to “take care of Russia”?

I had a chance to find out recently.

More than four hours after the end of the year-end press conference, President Putin asked me a question.

“Boris Yeltsin told you to take care of Russia.” I reminded the President. “But what about the significant losses from the so-called ‘special military operations’, Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region, sanctions, high inflation? Do you think you are taking good care of your country?”

President Putin answered, “Yes.” “And I didn’t just handle it. We backed away from the edge of the abyss.”

He described Yeltsin’s Russia as a country that had lost its sovereignty. He accused the West of “patronizingly tapping” Yeltsin on the shoulder while “using Russia for its own purposes.” But Putin said he was “doing everything to ensure that Russia remains an independent, sovereign state.”

Presenting himself as a defender of Russian sovereignty: is this a view he came up with in retrospect to justify the war in Ukraine? Or does President Putin really believe that this is his interpretation of modern Russian history?

I’m not sure yet. Not yet. But I think it’s an important question.

The answer could affect how the war ends and Russia’s future direction.