Ksenia Sobchak Quotes

Hard men present hard choices - none more so than Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia.

You cannot compare any leaders in our country to what Vladimir Putin has done.

In a system created by Putin, it is only possible for Putin to win. I am realistic about who will become the president.

I interviewed Putin himself in 2000, shortly after he took over as president.

Putin is lovely.

Russia has named Vladimir Putin its man of the year for the 15th year in a row. Putin got 143 million votes and the guy he was up against got killed in a mysterious boating accident. The boat was in a warehouse.

If Putin decides to run, which we are assuming that he will, there really isn't anything that can stop him. He can manipulate the system so that he has not real opponents; he can manipulate the media so that nobody else gets any coverage. And then, if worse comes to worse, he can - as he has done in the past - just change the electoral results. So, it's not like it's going to be a very exciting election.

Russia - having sat across the table from Vladimir Putin, it's pretty clear when you meet him that he has an almost limitless ambition for power. And he's been very good at acquiring it - political power, economic power, military power, territorial power.

To understand why dictators have a problem with making peace - or at least a genuine peace - the link between the nature of a regime and its external behavior must be understood.

Singling out political opponents for working against the ruling party is precisely the tactic of every tyrannical government from Red China to Venezuela. The first step in the process is creating unfounded public suspicion of political opponents, followed by arresting and jailing any who continue speaking against the regime.

There are examples of fraternal dictatorships, or one, anyway: the passing of power from Fidel to Raul Castro.

Putin himself is a character out of fiction, an uber-macho former Soviet thug running a massive, expansionist kleptocracy. The man stages photographs riding horses barechested and hunting tigers. His enemies find themselves on the wrong end of radioactive poisoning.

I think we have very steady records of President Putin, who inherited the country with democratic values.

The only successor to President Putin is President Putin himself and we could of course dream about President Putin stepping down voluntarily and picking out successor which would be probably as bad as him.

Putin is going to do what Putin is going to do.

If democracy brings an undemocratic group to power, is that a victory for democracy?

Putin has demonstrated his fondness for the Cold War…. Once a KBG agent, always a KGB agent.

When it comes to trade, when it comes to standing up to countries like North Korea, when it comes to standing up to guys like Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump is not a conservative.

Putin has all the power under his control, all the security forces, all the billions of dollars he needs. It's mad to pretend otherwise.

The United States must look beyond Mr. Putin. His regime may appear imposing, but it is rotting inside. His Russia is not a great power on par with America. It is a gas station run by a corrupt, autocratic regime.

I am not afraid of Putin, so I go and challenge him on the elections.

Vladimir Putin is a person from a different generation.

No way Putin will let anyone take away his power. Even if all the people of Russia voted for me.

Too many countries of the former Soviet bloc remain under the control of authoritarian leaders, including some, like the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who have learned how to maintain a more convincing facade of elections than their communist predecessors.

Putin has made a habit of supporting far-right candidates who undermine his foes in Europe; perhaps he never could have imagined such a character taking root on American soil. Trump's reasons for aligning with Putin have been more innocent, if no less dangerous.