With all the money going into the Ukraine war and other ventures since Putin came to power, I imagine there’s a lot of stuff he could’ve done to make the world a better place and Russia a formidable world power.

    • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      2 hours ago

      The Moscow apartment bombings were carried out in 1999. Putin used them, along with the invasion of Dagestan, to launch the Second Chechen War.

      Alexander Litvinenko blamed Putin and the FSB for the bombings. For that he was infamously assassinated with radioactive polonium.

      If Putin were a “good guy” then none of that would’ve happened either, so he might not have won the 2000 election.

      • HobbitFoot
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        55 minutes ago

        He was the heir apparent to Yeltsin, which might have given him enough power to win the election by himself.

        I agree Putin didn’t start off as a good guy, but I focused more on his continued presence in power and there was a peaceful transition of power between the two Presidents.