President Vladimir Putin is remaking Russia as he sees fit, seeing this as his "special mission" from God, according to TIME Magazine.
Mikhail Zygar, the former editor-in-chief of Russia's only independent news channel, Dozhd, wrote in TIME that "Putin's psychology underwent an irreversible transformation" following his term as prime minister.
"In 2011, during the Arab Spring protests, Putin became dissatisfied with his successor, Dmitry Medvedev. Putin believed that the international response to the uprising in Libya was "part of a global conspiracy in which Russia would be the next target," and disapproved of Medvedev for not vetoing a U.N. Security Council vote on the operation.
After his re-election in 2012, Putin "came to believe that he had been chosen for a special mission — to save Russia," according to Zygar.
"This more than anything inspired the events of 2014, when he decided to annex the Crimean Peninsula in response to a revolution in Ukraine that he believed to be part of a global anti-Russia conspiracy.
"The Western world reacted with dismay, and the U.S. and Europe imposed steep sanctions on Russia. But for many Russians the annexation of Crimea signified that Russia, for the first time after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, was once again a real superpower.
"Ever since, making Russia great again has become a new ideology for Putin. State propaganda started to spread the idea that Putin is the only one who can restore the greatness of Russia."
Zygar notes that Putin has pushed an ideology designed to bring together "fervent advocates of the Communist-era Soviet Union with those who dream of Russia's pre-revolutionary empire, built on Orthodox Christianity."
He's also replaced several older governors with young and little-known bureaucrats, known to have little to no personally political beliefs or opinions, and are looking to emulate Putin. His supporters also include the "orthodox Chekists" who came through the KGB.
"By and large, these figures never believed in Communism, but have now come to believe in God," Zygar writes. "And if Russia is God's chosen nation, it follows that Putin is God's chosen leader. The president himself naturally subscribes to this view."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.