Former US secretary of state speaks of working with Russian leader and his ‘goal of restoring imperial Russia’
Vladimir Putin has an “almost messianic belief in himself” and does not like critics, especially if they are women, the former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has said.
Clinton recalled that she “had some positive developments” working closely with Putin between 2009 and 2013 when he was prime minister of Russia, but the relationship soured when she criticised the “blatantly crooked” elections which returned him to the presidency in 2012.
Speaking to an audience at the Hay festival, Clinton said her assertion that Russians “deserve to have their voices heard and votes counted” and “an election that meets international standards” prompted protests by tens of thousands of Russians, which Putin then blamed her for.
The former Democratic party presidential hopeful, who lost out to Donald Trump in 2016, said: “Putin does not like critics, especially women critics. Putin then became very adversarial toward me with few exceptions. As we know, despite efforts to say to the contrary, he worked very hard to get Trump elected through all kinds of means.”
Clinton said she had witnessed “his almost messianic belief in himself and what he was destined to be” as well of his “goal of restoring imperial Russia” while working with him. This had prompted her to write memos warning he would become a “threat to Europe and the rest of the world”, although she had hoped that friendly relations with the US would make him “shelve his aggressive ambitions and look to be more cooperative”.
