Literally and figuratively, Putin was telling Russians — who would soon vote in a presidential election — that he was the man to protect them.
Once in office, attack after attack gave him the pretext to dismantle democracy brick by brick.
Once in office, attack after attack gave him the pretext to dismantle democracy brick by brick.
Patrushev, incidentally, now heads the national security council, and as I recently wrote, is a possible successor to Putin.
The terrorist attack was a glaring failure by the president and his regime.
Persons:
Frida Ghitis, Vladimir Putin, Boris Yeltsin, Putin, —, ”, Yeltsin, Nikolai Patrushev, Alexander Litvinenko, Denis Sinyakov, Moscow’s, beholden, Oleg Nikishin, Crocus
Organizations:
CNN, Washington Post, Politics, Frida Ghitis CNN, Crocus City Hall, ISIS, Putin, FSB, European Court, Human Rights, Kremlin, Chechen, Getty
Locations:
Crocus, Moscow, Ukraine, Washington, Chechnya, Russian, Ryazan, AFP, Russia, Beslan, ”