Vladimir Putin is not just the antagonist in hundreds of news stories a day, as he wages war against Ukraine, planning to next attack Europe, says Andrei Illarionov, formerly a Senior Policy Adviser during Putin's early period as President, Senior Analyst at the Center for Security Policy. Putin is also a person with his own personality, his shifting worldview, a man with his own problems and an individual who shows remarkable consistency in fighting for what he wants – something that Dr. Illarionov recollects seeing firsthand, in this interview with Kyiv Post, about what it was like to work with Putin.
If we want to defeat Putin: We must understand what makes him tick. Dr. Illarionov has become a strong opponent of Putin and is outspoken in his support of Ukraine, however, he is frank in what strengths Putin possesses and why the West so often gets Putin wrong. This interview reveals a side of Putin that few others have ever seen.
A publicly available biography for Dr. Illarionov indicates that "From 2000 to December 2005 he was the chief economic adviser of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the president’s personal representative in the G‑8. At the end of 2005, he resigned and became an outspoken critic of Putin and the Kremlin. He is one of Russia’s most forceful and articulate advocates of an open society and democratic capitalism.