---
title: "28 Putin Quotes By Masha Gessen"
description: "28 Putin quotes by Masha Gessen. Plus more from Masha Gessen and more Putin sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b3/masha-gessen-2322_about_there-aren-t-a-lot-of-things-that-are-ex_2593435.png"
---

> [There aren't a lot of things that are extraordinary about Putin, but his greed is truly extraordinary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/there-aren-t-a-lot-of-things-that-are-extraordinary-about-putin-but/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b3/masha-gessen-2322_about_there-aren-t-a-lot-of-things-that-are-ex_2593435.png)

> [Putin needed an enemy, an Other, against which to mobilize. LGBT people are really convenient: we're sort of the ultimate foreign agent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/putin-needed-an-enemy-an-other-against-which-to-mobilize-lgbt-people/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d8/masha-gessen-2322_agents_putin-needed-an-enemy-an-other-against-w_2406734.png)

> [Putin is an uneducated, unintelligent, uncultured man who has no plan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/putin-is-an-uneducated-unintelligent-uncultured-man-who-has-no-plan/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30f/masha-gessen-2322_man_putin-is-an-uneducated-unintelligent-unc_2336031.png)

> [I think Putin's popularity was genuine when he first came to power. He was seen as a welcome relief from the Yeltsin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/i-think-putin-s-popularity-was-genuine-when-he-first-came-to-power-he/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06b/masha-gessen-2322_era_i-think-putin-s-popularity-was-genuine-w_1842184.png)

> [I've learned over the years to hear what Putin is railing against in his own railing way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/i-ve-learned-over-the-years-to-hear-what-putin-is-railing-against-in/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b40/masha-gessen-2322_against_i-ve-learned-over-the-years-to-hear-what_1203951.png)

> [I looked at Putin and was terrified from the very beginning. That makes me look very prescient because he actually turned out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/i-looked-at-putin-and-was-terrified-from-the-very-beginning-that/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/269/masha-gessen-2322_actually_i-looked-at-putin-and-was-terrified-from_3081624.png)

> [Many Americans have been looking for an explanation for Mr. Trump's apparent adoration of Mr. Putin. How can a powerful, wealthy American…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/many-americans-have-been-looking-for-an-explanation-for-mr-trump-s/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/104/masha-gessen-2322_american_many-americans-have-been-looking-for-an_423231.jpg)

> [ “\[following the Kursk disaster\].. "Putin appeared on CNN's Larry King Live. When King asked "What happened?", Putin shrugged, smiled - impishly, it… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/following-the-kursk-disaster-putin-appeared-on-cnn-s-larry-king-live/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/287/masha-gessen-2322_putin_following-the-kursk-disaster-putin-appea_545976.png)

> [Putin has this ritual of having the televised meetings with ministers. Cameras will be allowed in to film the first five minutes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/putin-has-this-ritual-of-having-the-televised-meetings-with-ministers/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b9/masha-gessen-2322_film_putin-has-this-ritual-of-having-the-tele_1484057.jpg)

> [What Trump is not smart enough to even grasp is that the kind of popularity that Putin has can only be achieved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/what-trump-is-not-smart-enough-to-even-grasp-is-that-the-kind-of/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c6/masha-gessen-2322_context_what-trump-is-not-smart-enough-to-even-g_417218.jpg)

> [It's not just that both Putin and Trump lie, it is that they lie in the same way and for the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/it-s-not-just-that-both-putin-and-trump-lie-it-is-that-they-lie-in/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1fe/masha-gessen-2322_lie_it-s-not-just-that-both-putin-and-trump_1741577.png)

> [It seems that probably Putin's father maintained some connection to the secret police throughout his life. One sign of that is that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/it-seems-that-probably-putin-s-father-maintained-some-connection-to/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f8b/masha-gessen-2322_connection_it-seems-that-probably-putin-s-father-ma_1210264.jpg)

> [Every time I talk to somebody about Putin, it's like, 'But isn't he vastly popular?' Is that really the most important question?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/every-time-i-talk-to-somebody-about-putin-it-s-like-but-isn-t-he/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/677/masha-gessen-2322_i-think_every-time-i-talk-to-somebody-about-puti_839176.png)

> [For the first ten years, Vladimir Putin was constructing his power structure, and now he's defending it. He's retrenching, mobilizing a shrinking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/for-the-first-ten-years-vladimir-putin-was-constructing-his-power/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/668/masha-gessen-2322_classic_for-the-first-ten-years-vladimir-putin-w_2222809.jpg)

> [The rest of Russia is watching the same television that Vladimir Putin is watching. As far as they're concerned, Pussy Riot was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/the-rest-of-russia-is-watching-the-same-television-that-vladimir/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe6/masha-gessen-2322_blasphemy_the-rest-of-russia-is-watching-the-same_1042517.jpg)

> [When I was touring with my Vladimir Putin biography, which was published all over the world, people would ask me, How come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/when-i-was-touring-with-my-vladimir-putin-biography-which-was/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0cd/masha-gessen-2322_ask-me_when-i-was-touring-with-my-vladimir-puti_2201912.png)

> [The reason Vladimir Putin released Pussy Riot, the Greenpeace activists who were kidnapped in international waters and kept in prison for two…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/the-reason-vladimir-putin-released-pussy-riot-the-greenpeace/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f91/masha-gessen-2322_activist_the-reason-vladimir-putin-released-pussy_2002160.png)

> [For the first stage of his dictatorship, Vladimir Putin was involved in destroying public space. On the first day he was in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/for-the-first-stage-of-his-dictatorship-vladimir-putin-was-involved/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/26f/masha-gessen-2322_democracy_for-the-first-stage-of-his-dictatorship_2266756.jpg)

> [Of course, Putin may well have reasons for wanting Trump to be president - not least Trump's apparent skepticism toward NATO and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/of-course-putin-may-well-have-reasons-for-wanting-trump-to-be/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc8/masha-gessen-2322_nato_of-course-putin-may-well-have-reasons-fo_1053826.png)

> [I don't have a lot of hope for Russia when Putin goes, because I think that the kind of damage that has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/i-don-t-have-a-lot-of-hope-for-russia-when-putin-goes-because-i-think/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ba/masha-gessen-2322_country_i-don-t-have-a-lot-of-hope-for-russia-wh_2914446.jpg)

> [I really can't abide conspiracy theories, because I believe that everything in the world stems from idiocy and incompetence. That's certainly true…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/i-really-can-t-abide-conspiracy-theories-because-i-believe-that/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f4e/masha-gessen-2322_believe_i-really-can-t-abide-conspiracy-theories_465297.png)

> [Putin really assumed that once Trump - who had such clear admiration for him - was elected, it would be convenient for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/putin-really-assumed-that-once-trump-who-had-such-clear-admiration/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d79/masha-gessen-2322_admiration_putin-really-assumed-that-once-trump-who_754001.png)

> [Putin was very careful to gradually sort of rotate people in and out of power, to make sure that he had competent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/putin-was-very-careful-to-gradually-sort-of-rotate-people-in-and-out/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f04/masha-gessen-2322_bureaucrats_putin-was-very-careful-to-gradually-sort_2877685.png)

> [Trump very much wants to be liked by Putin and I think sincerely admires him. Putin doesn't know how to deal with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/trump-very-much-wants-to-be-liked-by-putin-and-i-think-sincerely/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/600/masha-gessen-2322_deal_trump-very-much-wants-to-be-liked-by-put_1324647.jpg)

> [Putin has built a mobilisation society, his sky high popularity numbers, which Donald Trump so envies, are fully dependent on being able…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/putin-has-built-a-mobilisation-society-his-sky-high-popularity/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87c/masha-gessen-2322_donald-trump_putin-has-built-a-mobilisation-society-h_2287181.png)

> [Both Trump and Putin use language primarily to communicate not facts or opinions but power: it's not what the words mean that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/both-trump-and-putin-use-language-primarily-to-communicate-not-facts/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cc/masha-gessen-2322_impossible_both-trump-and-putin-use-language-primar_238022.png)

> [Putin, I believe, was actually born to be a KGB agent. And I say born because I think that his father was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/putin-i-believe-was-actually-born-to-be-a-kgb-agent-and-i-say-born/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa4/masha-gessen-2322_believe_putin-i-believe-was-actually-born-to-be_2598927.png)

> [I think that Putin's strategy has been throwing a lot of money, fairly haphazardly, at a lot of projects aimed at disrupting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/i-think-that-putin-s-strategy-has-been-throwing-a-lot-of-money-fairly/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e3/masha-gessen-2322_i-think_i-think-that-putin-s-strategy-has-been-t_221640.jpg)

## Other authors on Putin

## More by Masha Gessen

> [There's this American pretense, which is the pretense of the journalist with the view from nowhere - which has somehow morphed into the journalist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/there-s-this-american-pretense-which-is-the-pretense-of-the/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

> [Where incompetence is prized, it is ever-present.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/where-incompetence-is-prized-it-is-ever-present/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

> [Pussy Riot have certainly changed some people's assumptions about the role of political art and the relationship between the intelligentsia and the church. That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/pussy-riot-have-certainly-changed-some-people-s-assumptions-about-the/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

> [Trump, like Putin, has a demonstrably thin skin and short temper when it comes to being criticized by journalists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/trump-like-putin-has-a-demonstrably-thin-skin-and-short-temper-when/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

> [You risk everything if you so much as join a legal protest demonstration in Russia. It raises the stakes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/you-risk-everything-if-you-so-much-as-join-a-legal-protest/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

> [Donald Trump creates word salads. And that is awful to language, because we try to parse out what he's saying and try to find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/donald-trump-creates-word-salads-and-that-is-awful-to-language/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

> [It is the first time since 1993 that Russians have come out into the streets without an explicit permission from the government to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/it-is-the-first-time-since-1993-that-russians-have-come-out-into-the/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

> [I think Donald Trump was brought to power by Americans. They voted for him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/i-think-donald-trump-was-brought-to-power-by-americans-they-voted-for/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

> [In the 1990s, there was a lot of reform, and there was a lot of forward movement on a lot of fronts in Russia.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/in-the-1990s-there-was-a-lot-of-reform-and-there-was-a-lot-of-forward/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

> [Poverty and scarcity are actually very good for totalitarian societies. They maintain that sense of mobilization that's essential for totalitarian societies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/poverty-and-scarcity-are-actually-very-good-for-totalitarian/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

> [I think that Putin's strategy has been throwing a lot of money, fairly haphazardly, at a lot of projects aimed at disrupting Western relations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/i-think-that-putin-s-strategy-has-been-throwing-a-lot-of-money-fairly/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

> [Both Trump and Putin use language primarily to communicate not facts or opinions but power: it's not what the words mean that matters but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/both-trump-and-putin-use-language-primarily-to-communicate-not-facts/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

> [I worked both as a Russian journalist and an American journalist and ran a bunch of magazines in Moscow over the course of about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/i-worked-both-as-a-russian-journalist-and-an-american-journalist-and/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

> [I have no doubt that there are Russian efforts to disturb the fabric of American democracy, but they're disruption efforts. They're troublemaking efforts. They're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/i-have-no-doubt-that-there-are-russian-efforts-to-disturb-the-fabric/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

> [For years I was the only publicly out gay person who was not a full-time gay activist: my position as a quasi-foreigner gave me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/for-years-i-was-the-only-publicly-out-gay-person-who-was-not-a-full/)

[Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/)

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                        "text": "I looked at Putin and was terrified from the very beginning. That makes me look very prescient because he actually turned out to be exactly the monster that I thought he was.",
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                        "text": "Many Americans have been looking for an explanation for Mr. Trump's apparent adoration of Mr. Putin. How can a powerful, wealthy American man hold affection for the tyrannical, corrupt leader of a hostile power?",
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                        "text": "“[following the Kursk disaster].. \"Putin appeared on CNN's Larry King Live. When King asked \"What happened?\", Putin shrugged, smiled - impishly, it seemed - and said \"It sank\".”",
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                        "text": "Putin has this ritual of having the televised meetings with ministers. Cameras will be allowed in to film the first five minutes of a meeting that is conducted entirely for the cameras. We don't even know whether the meeting then goes on.",
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                        "text": "What Trump is not smart enough to even grasp is that the kind of popularity that Putin has can only be achieved in the context of retro-totalitarianism.",
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                        "text": "It's not just that both Putin and Trump lie, it is that they lie in the same way and for the same purpose: blatantly, to assert power over truth itself.",
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                        "text": "It seems that probably Putin's father maintained some connection to the secret police throughout his life. One sign of that is that they had a telephone, and people didn't have telephones in the Soviet Union in the 1950s.",
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                        "text": "Every time I talk to somebody about Putin, it's like, 'But isn't he vastly popular?' Is that really the most important question? I mean, we can unpack his popularity. I think it's manufactured. I think it's manufactured through totalitarian mechanisms.",
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                        "text": "For the first ten years, Vladimir Putin was constructing his power structure, and now he's defending it. He's retrenching, mobilizing a shrinking constituency, constructing an enemy that's really scary. It's war. And when you look at the anti-gay campaign, it's a classic case of war rhetoric: demonstrating an immediate and extreme danger.",
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                        "text": "The rest of Russia is watching the same television that Vladimir Putin is watching. As far as they're concerned, Pussy Riot was rightly convicted of blasphemy, and Putin has now finally showed some mercy and let them out early so they could spend New Year's with their kids. He was nice to them even though they are really nasty. That's the dominant view. This really is a war and the front line is really firm.",
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                        "text": "When I was touring with my Vladimir Putin biography, which was published all over the world, people would ask me, How come you're still there, why haven't you left? I would say, I'm staying, it's my home. He can leave! It felt very good to say that. But now - he wins. It's not natural for people in the opposition to leave. It's always a personal catastrophe. And yet he's gotten people out of the country. That's the most terrifying thing about the current situation, and for the future of the country.",
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                        "text": "The reason Vladimir Putin released Pussy Riot, the Greenpeace activists who were kidnapped in international waters and kept in prison for two months, and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russia's best-known and longest-serving political prisoner, was because he finally started panicking and realized that he may not have anyone to take pictures with.",
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                        "text": "For the first stage of his dictatorship, Vladimir Putin was involved in destroying public space. On the first day he was in office, he introduced legislation that reformed and over five years effectively dismantled the electoral system. So anything that passes for elections in Russia today has nothing to do with actual elections.",
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                        "text": "Of course, Putin may well have reasons for wanting Trump to be president - not least Trump's apparent skepticism toward NATO and his lack of opposition to Russia's military interventions in Ukraine and Syria.",
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                        "text": "I really can't abide conspiracy theories, because I believe that everything in the world stems from idiocy and incompetence. That's certainly true of most of what's happened in Russia under Putin.",
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                        "text": "Trump very much wants to be liked by Putin and I think sincerely admires him. Putin doesn't know how to deal with somebody who positions himself like that.",
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                        "text": "Both Trump and Putin use language primarily to communicate not facts or opinions but power: it's not what the words mean that matters but who says them and when. This makes it impossible to negotiate with them and very difficult for journalists to cover them.",
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                        "text": "Putin, I believe, was actually born to be a KGB agent. And I say born because I think that his father was also an agent of the secret police in Russia.",
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                        "text": "I think that Putin's strategy has been throwing a lot of money, fairly haphazardly, at a lot of projects aimed at disrupting Western relations and undermining trust in democracies. They may have gotten farther in the States than anywhere else.",
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