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Jan 23 5 tweets 8 min read Read on X
How Putin made Russia Great Again or why Russians love him so much

(very long 🧵)

After the collapse of the USSR, Russia became a colony of the West and lost its sovereignty. During the 1990s and under Yeltsin’s government, the country nearly fell apart. The military and industries across all sectors were destroyed, school textbooks were rewritten, and resources were sold off to Western corporations. It’s a serious question whether Russia would even exist today if things had continued that way. However, with Putin’s arrival, everything changed - he brought Russia back to itself.

Bio

Few in the West know about Putin’s mentor, Anatoly Sobchak, who introduced him to politics. Sobchak was a strong supporter of liberal-democratic ideas and one of the founders of the “Democratic Russia” party.

In the early 1990s, Vladimir Putin worked as an assistant to the rector of Leningrad State University for international affairs.
This position served as a cover, as he was an active KGB agent. When Sobchak noticed him at the University and invited him to join his team, Putin had to admit his work in intelligence. Realizing that combining KGB work with political activity was impossible, he resigned from the KGB.

In June 1991, Sobchak became the mayor of St. Petersburg. During the tense political environment of the time, from 1993 onward, Sobchak often entrusted Putin to act as mayor during his foreign trips, showing great trust in his professionalism. However, starting in 1995, a campaign to discredit Sobchak began, organized by his political opponents in Moscow who viewed him as a potential rival for the presidency. Using accusations of misconduct, law enforcement agencies like the Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the FSB effectively ended his political career. His worsening health worked to his enemies’ advantage, reducing his ability to defend himself. At one point, they even tried to block him from traveling abroad for medical treatment.

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Putin’s Loyalty Over Political Ambition

At this critical moment, Putin showed complete loyalty to his mentor, Sobchak. He knew that helping Sobchak leave the country involved serious risks to his own career. First, he was going against powerful state agencies that were actively pursuing Sobchak. If the plan failed, Putin could have been accused of aiding or hiding him. Second, Sobchak was a political outsider at the time, and supporting him could have been seen as a strategic mistake, alienating influential allies in Moscow. Third, successfully getting Sobchak out of the country under the strict control of the FSB, prosecutors, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs required extreme caution. It could have been seen as breaking the law, threatening not just Putin’s career but also his personal freedom.

Despite these risks, Putin, using skills from his intelligence background, arranged for Sobchak to leave for France, where he underwent life-saving surgery. This act was a remarkable display of loyalty and courage. After the operation, Putin reported the outcome to Yeltsin, who, after a pause, approved his actions, saying, “You did the right thing.” This moment highlighted not only Putin’s loyalty to Sobchak but also his willingness to take risks for his principles and a sense of justice, which later became a defining feature of his political career.Image
The Turning Point: Russia’s New Year of Change

Since Christmas is a religious holiday in Russia, New Year’s Eve is celebrated similarly to how Christmas is in the West. A New Year’s tree is set up, and children receive gifts from Ded Moroz, the Russian Santa Claus, on the night of December 31st to January 1st. The celebration begins with a televised speech by the president, followed by the countdown to the chimes of the Kremlin clock, Russia’s main timepiece.

Back then, everyone anticipated Boris Yeltsin’s New Year address. By the 2000s, however, Yeltsin could barely speak. He was widely seen as a hopeless alcoholic, mocked by the Russian people and even by foreign leaders like Bill Clinton. Russians felt ashamed of their president, who had become a national embarrassment.

But instead of Yeltsin’s familiar face on TV, a young man appeared. Calm, polite, and well-spoken, he explained that Yeltsin had stepped down due to health reasons, and until the elections in the spring, he would take on presidential duties. He wished everyone a Happy New Year, and for the first time in a while, there was a sense of hope in the air.

When the elections came, people voted for this young man, Vladimir Putin, and he became president. Almost immediately, he introduced significant changes, particularly regarding the oligarchs who had gained immense political influence in the 1990s during the privatization of state enterprises under Yeltsin.

After the collapse of the USSR, several waves of privatization swept through Russia, leaving the nation’s wealth in the hands of a few. While ordinary Russians suffered from a sharp decline in living standards, barely scraping by, the business clans born in the chaos of perestroika solidified their control over the most valuable assets of what was once a great country.
The End of the Oligarch Era: Putin’s Economic Revolution

Putin made it clear that the era of oligarchs dictating terms to the state was over. He demanded they pay taxes and end tax evasion practices, including the widespread use of offshore schemes popular in the 1990s. One symbolic example of this crackdown was the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his oil company, Yukos, which became a landmark in the fight against tax evasion. Following this, many companies began significantly increasing their tax contributions to the state budget.

Putin also expected major businesses to invest in infrastructure, social services, and regional development. For instance, after Putin took office, Roman Abramovich invested heavily in developing the Chukotka region, where he served as governor. Other businessmen were also required to fund the construction of schools, hospitals, roads, and other public facilities.

Oligarchs were instructed not only to avoid political involvement but to publicly support Kremlin policies, including major state initiatives and foreign policy. Funding opposition movements was strictly forbidden, and compliance was seen as essential for maintaining their businesses.

The state also involved oligarchs in national priorities, such as the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Companies owned by oligarchs often became contractors for these large-scale projects, investing significant resources.

Putin demanded the return of assets and capital taken abroad in the 1990s. This included repatriating funds from offshore accounts and relocating companies under Russian jurisdiction. Under pressure from the Kremlin, some oligarchs moved their assets to Russian banks or registered them in Russia.

Strategic industries like oil, gas, and metallurgy were brought under state control or placed in the hands of Kremlin-loyal structures. Oligarchs managing major resources were required to align their activities with state interests.

Not all oligarchs agreed with these new rules. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, head of Yukos, refused to pay taxes on his company’s profits. Under Khodorkovsky, the Rothschilds gained influence over Russian oil. Putin not only jailed him but also nationalized Yukos, redirecting its revenues to the Russian budget instead of foreign hands. After serving his sentence, Khodorkovsky moved to Britain, where he launched campaigns to discredit Putin and funded Russian newspapers critical of the government. Many of these outlets were labeled foreign agents in 2022. Btw, Khodorkovsky was invited and he also attended Trump’s inauguration 2 days ago.

Boris Berezovsky, another prominent oligarch, made billions through ventures like “Logovaz” (car sales) and co-ownership of “Sibneft” with Abramovich. His activities caused significant harm to the Russian economy. Understanding the power of media, he owned newspapers and held shares in the ORT television channel. Berezovsky was suspected of involvement in the murders of journalist Paul Klebnikov, who wrote the book “Godfather of the Kremlin”, and TV host Vladislav Listyev. His commercial ties allegedly extended to organized crime groups and Chechen militants, with claims that he profited from the release of hostages held in Chechnya.

When Berezovsky refused to accept the new rules in Russia, he fled to London, where he called for a “violent overthrow of power” in Russia.

Other oligarchs, including Vladimir Gusinsky, Evgeny Chichvarkin, Sergey Pugachev, Alexander Lebedev, Roman Abramovich, Leonard Blavatnik, Leonid Nevzlin, Mikhail Fridman, Pyotr Aven, and Alexander Smolensky, faced similar outcomes.

In the end, Putin returned control of strategic industries—oil, gas, and metallurgy—to the state. Many assets held by oligarchs were nationalized or transferred to companies that prioritized Russia’s interests. These changes redirected investments into the country’s development rather than draining wealth into offshore accounts, strengthening the nation’s economy.
Now, let’s look at the achievements of Putin’s presidency in numbers.

🔷 GDP (Gross Domestic Product) increased by 930%.

🔷 The national external debt was reduced by 75.2%.

🔷 In 2024, Russia ranked first in Europe and fourth in the world for GDP (PPP). According to the IMF, Russia’s share of global GDP (PPP) reached 3.55%, surpassing Japan’s 3.38%.

🔷 Between 1999 and 2024, Russia’s gold reserves experienced significant growth by approx 580%, reaching 2332 tonnes.

🔷 International reserves increased over 5,000%, reaching $609 billion.

🔷 Federal budget revenue increased 45 times to 36.72 trillion rubles.

🔷 Major international events were held: the Sochi Olympics (2014) and the FIFA World Cup (2018).

🔷 Increased funding for culture, cinema, and scientific research.

Education and Science

🔷 National education projects contributed to the modernization of schools and universities.

🔷 Only from 2019 to 2023, 900 new schools were built. Overall number for the last 25 years is much higher. Additionally, every year more than 1,000 schools undergo major renovations. By the end of the five-year period, more than 7,300 educational institutions, including those in rural and small towns, will have been updated.

🔷 Russia remains a leader in space exploration, continuing missions with Soyuz spacecraft and developing new technologies.

Industry and Economy

🔷 Industrial production grew by 60%.

🔷 Manufacturing increased by 70% by 2019; in 2024, it grew an additional 7.2%.

🔷 Agricultural product exports grew 19 times to $25 billion.

🔷 Grain exports grew 40 times, reaching 50 million tons.

🔷 Over the past 17 years, Russia has opened 200 to 500 new factories, workshops, and enterprises annually.

Social Progress

🔷 Real wages increased 3.5 times. This reflects real growth for the entire population, accounting for inflation and other factors, not just for select groups.

🔷 The average monthly pension increased by 30 times.

🔷 Unemployment decreased by 65%, dropping to 4.6%.

🔷 Average life expectancy rose to 73 years (for men, from 59 to 68.5 years; for women, from 72 to 78.4 years).

🔷 Free Healthcare and Education

Family support

🔷 Financial support to families upon the birth or adoption of their second and subsequent children

🔷 Employed parents can take up to 3 years of parental leave

🔷Housing Support: Special programs provide discounts on mortgage interest rates for families with children

🔷 Families with children are entitled to tax deductions, including reduced income tax for working parents

🔷 Families raising children with disabilities receive additional financial assistance, including monthly care payments

Military and Security

🔷 Russia’s military is considered one of the strongest globally, ranked either first (U.S. News & World Report) or second (Global Firepower Index).

🔷 Crime rates, including murders, assaults, and robberies, decreased by 53% during Putin’s presidency. The homicide rate dropped by 74%.Image

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More from @rinalu_

May 27
Prescott Bush, Auschwitz, and Silesia: The History You Don’t See in Schoolbooks

Whenever people talk about “financial ties to the Third Reich,” the spotlight somehow always skips over the West especially the American elite. But one of the clearest cases of real business collaboration with Nazi Germany involves none other than Prescott Bush, grandfather of U.S. President George W. Bush 🤫

🧵👇Image
In the 1930s, Prescott Bush was a director at Union Banking Corporation (UBC), a bank tied to German industrialist Fritz Thyssen, one of Hitler’s earliest and biggest financial backers.

UBC didn’t just handle money but actively channeled funds into Nazi-linked industries, including steel and manufacturing operations that played a direct role in preparing Germany for war.

In 1942, when the U.S. officially entered WWII, the U.S. government seized UBC’s assets under the Trading with the Enemy Act. Translation: They openly acknowledged that the bank was serving enemy interests.Image
UBC had business connections with the Consolidated Silesian Steel Corporation, located in Silesia a region of Czechoslovakia that had been annexed by Poland in 1938 (Munich Agreement), when Czechoslovakia was carved up with the blessing of the UK and France.

This region housed steel plants and ore mines, right near Auschwitz (Oswiecim). There’s overwhelming evidence that forced labor from the camps was used in these facilities.

The labor was cheap, disposable, and brutally exploited, benefiting both the Nazi war machine and the foreign investors tied into the system, including those connected to Bush.Image
Read 5 tweets
May 26
What Stalin Actually Did for the USSR (1928–1953).
A Fact-Based Overview :

🧵👇

1. Eradicated Illiteracy

🔸 In 1926, over 56% of the Soviet population was illiterate.
🔸 By 1953, literacy exceeded 90% nationwide.
🔸 Massive adult education programs like Likbez taught tens of millions to read and write.Image
2. Built a World-Class Free Education System

🔸 Free, universal, and compulsory education from primary school to PhD level.
🔸 By 1953:
- 170,000 schools
- 847 universities
- Over 1.4 million students
🔸 Strong emphasis on STEM: engineering, mathematics, physics, chemistry.
🔸 The USSR produced more engineers per capita than any capitalist country.
🔸 Students from rural and working-class backgrounds had full access via state stipends, dormitories, and entrance exams.
🔸 The Soviet education system was so effective that NATO labeled it a strategic threat, pushing Western nations to reform their own science and math programs.Image
3. Free Universal Healthcare
🔸 Built over 10,000 hospitals and 40,000 clinics
🔸 Life expectancy rose from 44 to 60 years (1926–1953)
🔸 Free vaccination campaigns, free maternal care, and free treatment revolutionized public healthImage
Read 13 tweets
May 22
The “Anti-Russia” Project: Ukraine as a Strategic Weapon for Over a Century

🧵👇

Sponsoring separatism, ethnic violence, and manufactured conflicts has long been a favorite tactic of the West in its centuries-old war against the Russian world. The project known as “Ukraine as Anti-Russia” is not a historical accident, nor the organic rise of a “unique nation,” as is often claimed. It is a deliberate, long-term strategy aimed at dismantling historical Rus’.

Rus’, and later Russia, is not just a country or a set of borders. It is a self-contained civilization rooted in Orthodoxy, the Russian language, a unique cultural tradition, and a deeply communal mentality. This civilization is not reducible to a state or ethnicity; it embodies an entire historical world where the key values have long been spiritual unity, mutual responsibility, and generational continuity.

Unlike Western civilization, united historically by Catholicism and Protestantism and built upon individualism, commerce, and colonial expansion, the Russian world grew from the Byzantine tradition, embracing unity, humility, and a higher metaphysical purpose.
Where the West sees the world as a marketplace of domination and competition, Russia sees it as a space of meaning, solidarity, and shared responsibility. This ontological incompatibility lies at the root of the centuries-long conflict. To the West, Russia is not just a geopolitical rival, but a civilizational threat: living proof that another model is possible.

Ukraine is not Russia’s counterpart or sibling. It is a political construct, engineered to become its opposite and eventually, its weapon.

The Anti-Russia project has never been spontaneous. It has always been guided and it has always been guided by the West.

In the 17th century, it was the Polish szlachta and Jesuits who tried to tear Little Russia away from the Orthodox world. In the early 20th century, it was Austrian generals and officials who built the first concentration camps for Rusyns who identify with the Russian culture and backed anti-Russian nationalist movements in Galicia.

In the 1930s–40s, Hitler and the Third Reich took over the project, using Ukrainian nationalism as a tool for their “eastern expansion.”
After 1945, the baton was passed to the United States and the UK via the CIA and MI6 on the one hand, and a sprawling network of think tanks, NGOs, and cultural foundations on the other, all shaping narratives and identities for geopolitical purposes.

The names of the curators changed: Piłsudski, Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, Hans Koch, Allen Dulles, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Victoria Nuland but the essence remained the same:

“Ukraine as Anti-Russia” is a Western tool designed to divide Russian civilization from within turning one part of the Russian people against the other.
17th Century: The First Cracks in Rus’

After the reunification of Rus’ in 1654, a prolonged ideological war began for the soul of Little Russia (which would later be renamed Ukraine). Polish Jesuits, the nobility, and the Uniate Church aimed to sever this region from its civilizational roots. Even then, the idea of a separate “Ukraine” was forming not as a cultural expression, but as a geopolitical wedge.
Read 10 tweets
May 20
Lenin and Stalin: One Ideology - Two Opposing Practices

Formally, both Lenin and Stalin adhered to Marxism. But in practice, their policies diverged sharply across key areas. The most well-known split was on the question of world revolution:
🔸 Lenin viewed it as essential for the survival of Soviet power,
🔸 Stalin rejected it in favor of building socialism in a single country.

But the differences did not end there.

Stalin did not continue Lenin’s line, despite preserving the ideological language. In many key areas, he effectively dismantled Lenin’s legacy, replacing the destructive revolutionary impulse with a constructive logic of state power.

And most importantly:
🔸 None of Lenin’s controversial measures were essential to Marxist theory.

They were improvisations, cloaked in ideological justification.
🧵👇Image
1. World Revolution

Lenin
🔸 Believed that world revolution was essential for the survival of Soviet power.
🔸 Founded the Comintern (international communism) as a tool for exporting revolution beyond Russia’s borders.
🔸Openly viewed Russia primarily as a launching pad - a resource base to support uprisings in Germany, Hungary, Poland, Turkey, and elsewhere.

Stalin
🔸 Abandoned the idea of world revolution,
🔸 Declared a new course: socialism in one country, focusing on internal development.
🔸 By the 1930s, he sharply limited Comintern activity, and in 1943, disbanded it entirely - emphasizing that the USSR was no longer exporting revolution, but defending itself as a sovereign state.

Here is what Marxist theory is for those who don’t know ⤵️
2. Building the State System

Lenin
After dismantling the Russian Empire, he introduced a new model of power:
🔸one-party rule
🔸dictatorship of the proletariat
🔸nationalization of key sectors

But the system was chaotic and unstable:
🔸War Communism led to economic collapse
🔸The NEP was a retreat to market relations
🔸Governance remained loose and opaque

Most importantly, Lenin created the USSR as a federation with the right to secede, where each republic was granted its own flag, borders, elites, and the status of a “state within a state.”
What had once been a single, unified country was artificially broken up into multiple proto-states - a structure that not only weakened national cohesion but planted the time bomb for future disintegration.

Stalin
Built a tightly centralized state:
🔸full state ownership of property
🔸a planned economy
🔸a vertical power structure
🔸the 1936 Constitution, the most progressive of its time

He eliminated federalism as a threat to national unity and concentrated power in Moscow.
The USSR became a unified civilizational core, capable of industrialization, modernization, and victory in a global war.
Read 14 tweets
May 19
The 1936 Soviet Constitution (aka “Stalin’s Constitution”) is often considered one of the most progressive of its time. Not in the “liberal” sense, but because of how far it went in declaring rights and social guarantees, way ahead of what Western democracies were offering back then.

Here’s why 🧵👇Image
1. Universal, equal, direct voting rights with no class restrictions

🔸 Before 1936, some people in the USSR, like former nobles, priests, and “kulaks”, couldn’t vote.
🔸 The 1936 constitution gave full voting rights to everyone, including the right to be elected.

Meanwhile:
🔸 In the U.S., African Americans in the South were still blocked from voting using literacy tests, poll taxes, and violence.
🔸 In Switzerland, women didn’t get voting rights until 1971.
🔸 In Britain, full adult suffrage only came in 1928, and political power was still heavily influenced by class.
2. Social rights that didn’t exist in any Western constitution at the time

🔸 Right to work
🔸 Right to rest, including paid vacation
🔸 Right to free education
🔸 Right to free healthcare
🔸 Right to a state pension
🔸 Right to housing

Meanwhile:
🔸 In the U.S., none of these were constitutional rights: healthcare and education were paid, and there were no legal guarantees for work or housing.
🔸 In Britain, early forms of social welfare were just starting to appear and only expanded after WWII with things like the NHS in 1948.
Read 5 tweets
May 19
I seriously can’t with these Americans (or other English-speaking influencers) who’ve never opened a history book, yet run around screaming about “60 million Christians killed by the USSR/the Bolsheviks”.

Meanwhile, you Christians spilled more Christian blood than any atheist regime ever could - and somehow you’re completely unaware of it. That’s what makes these claims so jaw-droppingly stupid to anyone even mildly educated.

Let’s take a little tour through your “Christian love”:

The Crusades (1096–1291): launched by the Pope, ended in oceans of blood - not just Muslims, but Eastern Orthodox Christians were slaughtered in the Fourth Crusade when Catholics sacked Constantinople.
The Albigensian Crusade (13th century): entire towns in southern France annihilated - tens of thousands murdered by Papal armies for being the “wrong kind” of Christians.
The Inquisitions (Spain, Portugal, Italy, etc.): centuries of torture, forced confessions, and burnings at the stake - targeting everyone.
Read 20 tweets

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