Kathrine Frich
He frequently met face to face with President Vladimir Putin.
When a world leader isolates himself behind palace walls, outsiders rarely get a glimpse of how his mind truly works.
We usually rely on public speeches and staged broadcasts to guess his next move.
But sometimes, a rare firsthand account reveals the chilling reality of what happens behind closed doors.
A private audience
For decades, Russian journalist Alexei Venediktov ran the independent radio station Echo of Moscow. Before the government shut his station down, he frequently met face to face with President Vladimir Putin.
These private sessions allowed the veteran editor to study the Russian leader up close. In a recent interview with Die Welt, Venediktov shared disturbing details about the president’s deep obsession with NATO.
He explained that the shifting borders in Eastern Europe represent a literal countdown for the Kremlin boss. The perceived threat is measured in exact minutes and seconds.
Knives and missiles
During one meeting, Putin expressed anger over a recent radio broadcast that downplayed military logistics. Venediktov recalled the exact confrontation.
“I was listening to your radio station yesterday. There was an expert on there who said that missile flight time doesn’t matter. How can that not matter?” Putin asked, according to the Die Welt interview that was cited by Onet.
The Russian leader then grabbed ordinary tableware to map out a hypothetical strike. Venediktov explained that Putin took a knife and a spoon from the table to represent incoming rockets and slow air defenses.
The visual demonstration proved that Putin believes NATO expansion cut the flight time of a missile to Moscow from eight to five minutes.
Devoid of empathy
Whether the missile math is accurate hardly matters. The journalist noted that the president completely believes it, and this intense paranoia drives his daily decisions.
Decades of these private meetings left a stark impression on the radio host. “Putin is very cold, very devoid of empathy, very rational and calculating,” Venediktov told Die Welt.
While the leader occasionally showed genuine emotion in his early years, those days are long gone. The journalist warned that these harsh traits have only grown stronger over time.
Anyone trying to negotiate with him faces a nearly impossible task. According to Venediktov, the president possesses an excellent memory and an iron logic that cannot be argued with.
Sources: Die Welt
