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Putin reaches 25 years in power in Russia, but is he 'taking care' of the country, asks Steve Rosenberg

Getty Images Boris Yeltsin sits opposite Vladimir Putin at the table, facing each other, on the day Yeltsin announced he would step down as president.Getty Images

Boris Yeltsin (L) announced that he would resign immediately and hand over presidential powers to Vladimir Putin on 31 December 1999.

I will never forget New Year's Eve 1999.

I was working as a producer in the BBC's Moscow office. Suddenly there was headline news: Russian President Boris Yeltsin has resigned.

His decision to resign surprised everyone, including the British press team in Moscow. There was no spokesperson in the office when the news broke. That meant I had to step in to write and broadcast my first BBC submission.

I wrote: “Boris Yeltsin always said he would see his full term in office.” “Today he told the Russians that he has changed his mind.”

It was the beginning of my career as a journalist.

And the beginning of Vladimir Putin as the leader of Russia.

After Yeltsin's resignation, in accordance with the Russian constitution, Prime Minister Putin became acting president. Three months later he won the election.

When he left the Kremlin, Yeltsin's parting order with Putin was: “Take care of Russia!”

Getty Images A young-looking Vladimir Putin stands in front of Boris Yeltsin, both wearing suits and laughing.Getty Images

President Putin (R) portrays himself as a defender of Russia's sovereignty — something he says his predecessor Boris Yeltsin failed to do.

I found myself remembering Yeltsin's words all too often, as Russia's war in Ukraine approaches the three-year mark.

This is because President Putin's all-out attack on Ukraine has had dire consequences.

Especially in Ukraine, which has seen massive destruction and casualties in its cities. About 20% of its territory has been taken and its 10 million citizens have been displaced.

But in Russia, too:

I have been reporting on Putin since he came to power over a century ago.

On December 31, 1999, who would have thought that Russia's new leader would still be in power two and a half decades later? Or that Russia today will be fighting Ukraine and confronting the West?

Reuters Several Russian soldiers place flags on the coffins of soldiers killed in Luhansk, a Russian-controlled area, surrounded by crosses.Reuters

Russia has suffered heavy losses on the battlefield since President Putin launched a so-called 'special military campaign' in Ukraine in 2022.

I often wonder if history would have been very different if Yeltsin had chosen someone else to succeed him. The question is an academic one. History is full of ifs and buts and maybes.

One thing I can say with certainty: in twenty-five years I have seen different Putins.

And I'm not the only one.

“Putin I met, I did good business with, he established the Nato-Russia Council with him, he is very different from this almost megalomaniac now,” former Nato chief Lord Robertson said in 2023.

“The man who stood next to me in May 2002, next to me, said that Ukraine is a sovereign and independent country that will make its own decisions about security, now there is a man who says that. [Ukraine] it is not a nation.

“I think Vladimir Putin has a very thin skin and he has a lot of ambition for his country. The Soviet Union was recognized as the second power in the world. Russia cannot make claims like that. And I think that has eaten away at the time. his soul.”

That's one possible explanation for the change we've seen in Putin: his burning desire to “Make Russia Great Again” (and to reverse what many see as Moscow's defeat in the Cold War) set Russia on an inevitable path to conflict. its neighbors – and the West.

The Kremlin has a different explanation.

In the speeches he gives, the comments he makes, Putin seems to be motivated by anger, a complete feeling that for years Russia has been lied to and disrespected, its security concerns dismissed by the West.

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

I just had a chance to find out.

The BBC's Steve Rosenberg challenges Putin over his 25-year rule of Russia

More than four hours into his long year-end press conference, Putin invited me to ask a question.

“Boris Yeltsin told you to take care of Russia,” I reminded the president. “But what about the heavy losses in the so-called 'special military operation', Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region, sanctions, high inflation. Do you think you have taken care of your country?”

“Yes,” replied President Putin. “And I just haven't taken care of it. We've retreated from the end of the abyss.”

He described Yeltsin's Russia as a country that had lost its sovereignty. He accused the West of “patting” Yeltsin on the shoulder while “using Russia for his own purposes”. But he, Putin, “does everything”, he said, “to ensure that Russia is an independent country”.

Presenting himself as a defender of Russian sovereignty: is this an idea he came up with in retrospect to try to justify the war in Ukraine? Or does Putin really believe that this is taking over modern Russian history?

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

Its answer could influence how the war ends — and Russia's future direction.

More from the BBC's Russian editor

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