Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has an “almost messianic belief in himself and what he was destined to be”, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has said.
She was in conversation with civil liberties advocate Helena Kennedy at the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts in Wales when the former first lady shared her brief experience of working alongside Mr Putin during her tenure as the US secretary of state.
Ms Clinton said she saw him harbouring the “goal of restoring imperial Russia” while working with him between 2009 and 2014, when he was prime minister of Russia. It prompted her to write multiple memos warning the world about the impending “threat to Europe and the rest of the world”, she said.
“When he invaded Ukraine, I was sadly not surprised,” she said, according to The Guardian. “I was very pleasantly surprised at how effective the government of [Volodymyr] Zelensky and Ukraine defended themselves.”
Though there were “some positive developments” during their time working together, Ms Clinton said she became disagreeable to him after she criticised the “blatantly crooked” 2012 elections that ensured Mr Putin’s presidential win.
“Putin does not like critics, especially women critics. Putin then became very adversarial toward me with few exceptions,” she added.
In December 2011, when mass protests had erupted against Mr Putin, with demonstrators accusing him of rigging the presidential election, he blamed Ms Clinton for allegedly fomenting the opposition and inciting unrest.
“I looked at the first reaction of our US partners,” Mr Putin had said at that time. “The first thing that the secretary of state did was say that they were not honest and not fair, but she had not even yet received the material from the observers.
“She set the tone for some actors in our country and gave them a signal,” he had added. “They heard the signal and with the support of the US State Department began active work.”
Later, several intelligence and senate reports claimed Russia interfered during the 2016 US presidential election, when Ms Clinton was running for the top post.
A 2019 Senate Intelligence Committee report found that Russia used social media throughout the 2016 election as part of the Kremlin’s efforts to spread disinformation and undermine Ms Clinton’s candidacy, while supporting her Republican opponent Donald Trump.
Mr Trump has slammed the investigation, which clouded the first years of his presidency, as a “hoax” and a “witch hunt”.
