Putin thought Chechnya was an entirely domestic issue, and Russia would deal with it. But this was also the time of the global war on terror, that particularly sort of foolish concept. And as far as he was concerned, he felt, look, this is just Russia's front in this global war. So I think this very much set the pattern of him thinking that we in the West are sanctimonious hypocrites who are willing to endorse brutal actions when it's in someone else's interests.
Mark Galeotti is one of the world’s leading experts on modern Russia. His new book, Putin’s Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine, details how Vladimir Putin and his conflicts have shaped Russia in the 21st century. In conversation with the New Statesman’s Katie Stallard, Galeotti shows how Putin has used warfare through incursions into Georgia, Crimea and Ukraine, to influence both Russia’s domestic politics and the geopolitics that play out on the world stage.
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