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Deputy Mayor Putin

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How did a once faceless bureaucrat, a man whose own wife said he was born under the sign of the vampire, become the idealized face of Russian manhood and its authoritarian leader? Deputy Mayor Putin examines the man behind the myth. We will explore how Putin’s formative years shaped and drove him and how the supporting cast of characters he gathered along the way helped him get to the Kremlin’s inner sanctum. We will trace Putin’s many transformations and examine how each step brought him closer to the leader he is today: from scrawny street thug to the aggressive President Putin who invaded Ukraine in early 2022.

4 pages, Audible Audio

Published February 29, 2024

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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
Profile Image for Cav.
922 reviews229 followers
July 17, 2024
Deputy Mayor Putin was a well-done short presentation. It is an audiobook, so I won't include any quotes from the book, as my reviews usually have.

The book follows the unlikely rise of Vladimir Putin, from relative obscurity in the ranks of the KGB, to becoming the most powerful man in Russia. The author mentions that Putin contemplated driving a taxi in the 90s after the KGB wasn't paying him. In Soviet times, the workers pretended to work, and the government pretended to pay them.

I felt that the audio presentation worked here. The narration was nicely done, and the book includes quotes from many authors, pundits, and commentators. There was lots of content from Putin: His Life and Times author Philip Short.

The formatting of the book is broken into 8 parts, following a chronological trajectory. Fortunately, its short length means that a lot of the filler that typically accompanies longer books was left out. Somewhat counterintuitively - I typically find that I get more from shorter books than I do from longer ones. Often longer books tend to drown the reader in a sea of minutia; effectively losing the forest for the trees...

******************

I enjoyed this short audiobook. I would recommend it to anyone interested.
4 stars.
Profile Image for Dmitry.
1,410 reviews118 followers
September 19, 2024
(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)

Сине-красные огни — повод для паранойи
Каждый знает, что для них простой народ — помои
Рука руку моет; знай, что сколько стоит
Каждый в Городе грехов чью-то корову доит


Эта книга напомнила мне другую похожую книгу - Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? by Karen Dawisha - которая посвящена не конкретно Путину, а путинской России в целом. В данной же книге даётся усечённая автобиография Путина, вернее как Путин поднимался по властной иерархии. Данная аудиокнига небольшая, так как сосредотачивается лишь на одной теме - криминальных случаях, в которых, так или иначе, фигурировал Путин (или которые косвенно с ним связаны, как например загадочная смерть бывшего начальника Путина Собчака). В этом смысле книга очень хороша, т.к. показывает читателю, кем Путин является на самом деле.

Книга разбита на несколько глав, где в каждой главе нас знакомят с одним криминальным делом, в котором фигурирует имя Путина. Среди таких известных историй в книге имеется, разумеется, дело Марии Салье, которое посвящено коррупции в мэрии Санкт-Петербурга и которое непосредственно связано с Путиным лично. Как говорит сама Мария Салье, имеется подпись самого Путина на одном из документов. В двух словах трудно объяснить суть дела, но если упрощать, то Путин был ответственен за получение продовольственной помощи городу Санкт-Петербург. Помощь, как часто это бывает с коррупционными странами, не вся дошла до места назначения. Можно предположить, что это первое дело, после которого Путин понял, что можно быть каким угодно непрофессионалом, но если тебя сделали чиновником в постсоветской России, то можно стать миллионером.

Что ещё тут примечательно и о чём так же говорит аудиокнига, так это то, что без молчаливого согласия Собчака такие махинации происходить не могли. И действительно, как рассказывает книга, Собчак сделал всё возможное чтобы против Путина не было заведено уголовное дело а также чтобы он устоял на своём посту. Дело в том, что против Путина выступила Мария Салье, а так же её поддержал что-то типа городского совета. Чем же закончилось это противостояние? После 1993 года Собчак получил полномочия этот городской совет распустить. В общем, отстоял Собчак своего верного помощника Путина. Именно в этом моменте видна главная положительная черта Путина, благодаря которой он поднялся на такую политическую высоту - лояльность к начальству. Книга хорошо показывает, что Путин очень сильно помогал Собчаку, о котором только ленивый не говорил, что он был коррупционером. И тут возникает вопрос, если Собчак был коррупционер, то был ли и Путин коррупционером, т.е. действовали ли они совместно? А теперь вспомним очень странную смерть Собчака, который знал очень много о своём главном помощнике Владимире Путине. Я знаю, что многие намекают именно на Путина, но лично я не знаю, что на самом деле произошло тогда с Собчаком, т.е. почему он умер, и было ли это убийство (и кто стоял в таком случае за этим убийством). В любом случаи, книга заставила меня посмотреть на эту ситуацию совсем под другим углом.

Конечно, главным эпизодом в данной биографии Путина является помощь Ельцину в политической ликвидации генерального прокурора РФ Скуратова, но это общеизвестная история и тут книга не предлагает ничего нового, хотя эта история очень важна для понимания личности Путина. Более редкой историей является связь Путина с тамбовской криминальной группировкой и её лидером Кумариным, а также связь Путина с крышеванием нелегальных казино в Санкт-Петербурге. К сожалению, книга поверхностно рассматривает все эти истории, поэтому мне трудно понять, какова же была роль Путина во всём этом. С другой стороны, знакомство с Кумариным очень символично и может объяснить многое в поведении Путина и последующих события, как например убийство Галины Старовойтовой. Тут так же авторы проводят связь. Опять же, трудно сказать наверняка, но это определённо тема отдельного расследования, ибо как я понял, Старовойтова так же неким образом была помехой Владимиру Путину.

В книге, разумеется, рассматриваются и взрывы домов в Москве 1999 года, после которых взошла звезда Владимира Путина, но делается это довольно поверхностно. Трактовка этого эпизода так же является неоднозначной среди внесистемной оппозиции (т.е. стояла ли за взрывами домов именно ФСБ). Главным является совсем другое. Все льстят Путину, упоминая о его КГБшном прошлом, тем самым создавая образ злого/опасного Штирлица, но книга показывает Путина совершенно другим - продуктом бандитской эпохи Ельцина, коим он и является на самом деле. Я не думаю, что КГБ сильно перепрограммировало Путина. Я думаю именно вседозволенность и бандитизм 90-ых обучил Путина тому, что главным является деньги, которые приходят вместе с властью. Так же именно работая на Собчака, Путин понял всю опасность демократии и свободных настоящих выборов. Думаю, именно тогда он понял, что ни при каких условиях нельзя допустить демократию, ибо именно представители демократии - Старовойтова, Салье и многие другие региональные представители власти - были главной угрозой Путину и его благосостоянию. А вот бандиты, это совсем другая история, ибо могут стать союзниками. А теперь вспомним, был ли возле Путина человек, которому бы Путин очень сильно доверял, но который был бы сильно связан с криминальным миром? Такой человек был и имя его Пригожин. Впрочем, тут нужно понимать, что объединение чиновников, правоохранительных органов и лидеров ОПГ произошла не при Путине, а при Ельцине, вернее с его молчаливого согласия. Кто знает, возможно, это было удобно не только Путину, но и Ельцину (или его окружению, которое манипулировало Ельциным, что не сбрасывает с Ельцина, в таком случаи, ответственности за то, что он построил бандитский Петербург, чей руководитель позже займёт трон уже всей России).

This book reminded me of another similar book - Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? by Karen Dawisha - which is not specifically about Putin but about Putin's Russia in general. This book gives a truncated autobiography of Putin, or rather, how Putin rose up the power hierarchy. This audiobook is small, as it focuses on only one topic - criminal cases in which, in one way or another, Putin was involved (or which are indirectly related to him, such as the mysterious death of Putin's former boss Sobchak). In this sense, the book is very good, as it shows the reader who Putin really is.

The book is divided into several chapters, where in each chapter we are introduced to one criminal case in which Putin's name appears. Among such famous stories in the book, there is, of course, the Marina Salye report, which is about corruption in the St. Petersburg mayor's office and which is directly related to Putin personally. As Marina Salye herself says, there is Putin's own signature on one of the documents. In a nutshell, it is difficult to explain the essence of the case, but to simplify, Putin was responsible for receiving food aid to the city of St. Petersburg. The aid, as is often the case with corrupt countries, did not all reach its destination. We can assume that this is the first case after which Putin realized that it is possible to be any kind of non-professional, but if you were appointed an official in post-Soviet Russia, you could become a millionaire.

What is also notable here, and what the audiobook also says, is that without Sobchak's tacit consent, such machinations could not have taken place. And indeed, as the book tells us, Sobchak did everything possible to prevent Putin from being prosecuted and to keep him in office. The fact is that Putin was opposed by Marina Salye and supported by something like the city council. How did this confrontation end? After 1993, Sobchak was authorized to dissolve this city council. In general, Sobchak defended his loyal assistant Putin. This is where Putin's main positive trait that has brought him to such political heights - loyalty to his superiors - can be seen. The book shows very well that Putin helped Sobchak very much, about whom only a lazy person did not say that he (Sobchak) was a corruptor. And then the question arises, if Sobchak was a corruptor, was Putin also a corruptor, i.e., did they act together? Now let's remember the very strange death of Sobchak, who knew a lot about his main assistant Vladimir Putin. I know, a lot of people are hinting at Putin, but I don't know what really happened to Sobchak at that time, i.e., why he died and whether it was murder (and who was behind the murder in that case). Anyway, the book made me look at the situation from a different angle.

Of course, the main episode in this biography of Putin is his assistance to Yeltsin in the political liquidation of Russian Prosecutor General Skuratov, but this is a well-known story, and the book does not offer anything new here, although this story is very important for understanding Putin's personality. A rare story is Putin's connection to the Tambov criminal group and its leader Kumarin, and Putin's connection to the illegal casinos in St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, the book treats all these stories superficially, so it's hard for me to understand what Putin's role was in all this. On the other hand, meeting Kumarin is very symbolic and can explain a lot of Putin's behavior and subsequent events, such as the murder of Galina Starovoitova. The authors are also making a connection here. Again, it's hard to say for sure, but it's a topic for a separate investigation because, as I understand it, Starovoitova was also in some way an obstacle to Vladimir Putin.

Of course, the book also deals with the 1999 Moscow house bombings, after which Vladimir Putin's star rose, but it does so rather superficially. The interpretation of this episode is also ambiguous among the non-systemic opposition (i.e., whether the FSB was behind the house bombings). The main thing is quite different. Everyone flatter Putin by mentioning his KGB past, thus creating the image of a dangerous Stirlitz but the book shows Putin as something else entirely - a product of Yeltsin's gangster era, which he really is. I don't think the KGB reprogrammed Putin much. I think it was the permissiveness and banditry of the 90s that taught Putin that the main thing is money, which comes with power. Also, working for Sobchak, Putin realized the danger of democracy and free elections. I think it was then that he realized that democracy could not be allowed under any circumstances, for it was the representatives of democracy - Starovoitova, Marina Salye, and many other regional representatives of power - who were the main threat to Putin and his welfare. Bandits, on the other hand, are a different story because they can become allies. And now let's remember, was there a man Putin trusted very much but who was strongly connected to the criminal world? There was such a person, and his name was Prigozhin. However, it should be understood that the unification of officials, law enforcement agencies, and leaders of organized crime groups took place not under Putin but under Yeltsin, or rather, with his tacit consent. Who knows, perhaps it was convenient not only for Putin but also for Yeltsin (or his entourage that manipulated Yeltsin, which does not absolve Yeltsin, in this case, of responsibility for the fact that he built the bandit St. Petersburg, whose leader would later take the throne of all Russia).
Profile Image for Virginia Parker.
93 reviews3 followers
September 1, 2024
While I only rated this a 3 star review, I did appreciate the perspective that the book provided to me about the early years and rise of President Vladimir Putin. I was totally uneducated as to his background, where he came from and what he did prior to becoming President. The novelette provided some insight as to his personality, his ego and his current efforts to bring back the Russian state to the united country it was in the past.
Profile Image for Chase.
10 reviews
April 10, 2024
A great recounting from Putin’s youth to his position as president (*cough* dictator) of Russia. Enjoyed both the delivery by numerous sources and anecdotal scenes! Nice informational piece and a quick listen. 4.5
Profile Image for Clare Kirwan.
439 reviews5 followers
May 17, 2026
This is a short history of Putin’s early career and he turns out to be a bit of a sh*t. Who knew?
Profile Image for Nicole Shepard.
310 reviews41 followers
August 27, 2024
I should have read the description of this audio book before listening because I imagined that it was going to be a humorous The Office/Parks & Rec style fiction on Putin stuck as a low level bureaucratic cog. Instead it’s an earnest attempt to understand how Putin became the Putin of today.

It’s all right, I guess. My version would have been fun.
Profile Image for Lexi Swift.
105 reviews1 follower
September 18, 2025
I really enjoyed the audiobook format of this- felt like I was listening to a documentary show in my head

Extremely well produced and interesting look into the rise of Putin, how he came to be who he is, and who he is now. It consisted of a lot of things that one may just “assume” happens in Russia, and having that affirmation of its history is both grim and important I feel.
Profile Image for cypher.
1,828 reviews
January 11, 2025
nicely presented quick, broad picture of the famous corrupt character. even if some of the details would not be the accurate ones (based on what information is available), it would still be ok as an approximation.
Profile Image for AttackGirl.
1,951 reviews27 followers
April 1, 2024
I would like to read a complete volume about President Putin not just a teaser…
Profile Image for Charles.
624 reviews
April 14, 2024
I love Russian history and will read anything about the fall of the Soviet Union. This was a real in depth discussion about the rise of Putin and the chaos of the Soviet implosion.
Profile Image for Khurley424.
194 reviews2 followers
April 16, 2024
Very insightful and well produced. I can't say any of the contents are terribly surprising, but I definitely have more insight into the bastard now than I did when I started
Profile Image for Alex Van Houdt.
114 reviews
May 14, 2024
Entertaining, digestible, wave-top level overview of Putin from KGB to Russian presidency.
189 reviews1 follower
August 27, 2024
Nothing special, just info into Putin's life. I didn't get any thrill from it. It felt only like a story of elements from his lucky or circumstantial and opportunistic life, mostly (99%) political.
Profile Image for Stuart.
279 reviews9 followers
January 18, 2025
If you ever wondered how Putin got to the position he is in now, this is for you.
Profile Image for Kamarr Richée.
24 reviews1 follower
April 9, 2024
Well presented and a good look at the past to help explain just how this man got to where he is. Honestly, it makes what we see now all the more understandable in his acting like a man with so many insecurities and feelings to compensate for.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews