One Picture is worth a Thousand Screams

In our last issue we published a post called “Putin the Wimp.” Now here’s some photographic backup for that conclusion.  Shown above is Vladimir Putin the flunkie (are those pants actually purple?!) with his boss former St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, circa 1994.  Sobchak, who would be drummed out of office and then flee the country in disgrace while facing a massive corruption investigation (much like exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky), gave Putin his start in political life. Perhaps Putin hates Berezovsky so much because the oligarch reminds him of things he’d rather forget.  Putin is also a plagiarist. That may have been one of the key features of his resume that attracted Sobchak.