Vladimir Putin, the long-serving President of Russia, has skillfully navigated the political landscape, employing flattery and deception to manipulate five American presidents. His past experience as a Lieutenant Colonel of the KGB has certainly provided him a leg up. His focus on personality profiling gave him the tools necessary to understand and exploit human motivations and vulnerabilities. Putin has built up an elaborate charade that regularly blinds western leaders. Unfortunately, this awesome wisdom has stymied their efforts to try and work with him in good faith.
Over the years, Putin has duped or hoodwinked Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and now Biden. He has talked about maintaining stability in Europe to world leaders, even as he unleashed violence and chaos against Ukraine. This double-sided nature of his approach is telling, but slightly deceptive, presenting him as a unifying figure while the record proves otherwise.
Putin’s KGB Training and Manipulative Tactics
Putin’s former experience in the KBG has deeply molded his ways of conducting international diplomacy. His job was to evaluate a person’s motives and vulnerabilities before trying to enlist them. This skill has come in handy in his dealings with foreign leaders. It allows him to look like a credible ally, even as he hides his real agenda behind it.
As Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats reminds us, Putin’s biography, his life experiences, made him who he is. Consequently, he refuses to show his true colors to Western diplomats. As she puts it, “He was educated not to show his, so to speak, soul—if he has one. But his lived experience didn’t allow him to be his full self. Of course, he could not truly disclose his deeper self to any westerner. To Putin, the West is still an opponent, and the United States is the quintessence of that opposition.
This little-recognized campaign of lies has enabled Putin to mislead three consecutive U.S. presidents. For example, George W. Bush famously remarked about his early encounters with Putin: “I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy.” This understanding would aptly enough, as it turns out, for a Ruble to a dollar trade idea soon appear misleading, as U.S.-Russia relations faltered.
Flattery and Fallout
Yet the capacity of Putin to fascinate world leaders with his command performances has repeatedly resulted in major diplomatic disaster. His relationship with Donald Trump is a prime example of this trend. Unlike his opponents, Trump saw through the fraud of their debate. In fact, he added, “My conversations with him … I look forward to those conversations all the time — they’re very friendly conversations. Then, that night, the missiles start flying.” This observation highlights a recurring theme in Putin’s relationships with U.S. presidents: empty rhetoric followed by aggressive actions.
While Trump was right to recognize the use of these tactics by Putin, he became entranced by the fantasy of talk without substance. As Trump said, “Then after that happens three, four times, you start saying that talk isn’t worth a dime.” U.S. leaders have every right to be increasingly frustrated with Putin’s aggression in Ukraine and now elsewhere. This train of thought speaks to their disappointment and anger after years of interacting with him.
Putin’s ruthless exploitation of Trump shows a more profound concert with psychological frailties. He perceived Trump’s splenetic need for adulation on the international stage. He exploited this weakness to establish rapport, but this proved to be in U.S. interests very few.
Consequences of Deceit
The effects of Putin’s duplicity have been far-reaching, especially for Ukraine. His military operations have caused over 16,000 civilian deaths along with displacement and destruction. He has repeatedly ordered missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian civilians. Legally, he is committing war crimes, such as the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine.
Despite being treated as a pariah by most world leaders due to his illegal invasion of Ukraine, Putin has made notable territorial gains. The conflict has seen him secure small pockets in the eastern regions of Ukraine, and analysts suggest that he may only need to control approximately 20 percent of Ukrainian territory for a perceived victory.
Putin’s strategy has been supremely effective, not just on the battlefield, but on the psychological battlefront. He has succeeded in using that Machiavellian touch to erode faith in American leadership by manipulating their presidents. The current war in Ukraine only offers the ideal stage for these manipulations. It is an unfortunate demonstration of how Putin’s tactics can produce tangible results, even under global scrutiny.
