In the course of three years, Vladimir Putin rose from being jobless to president of the largest country in the world, amassing unprecedented personal fortune along the way. Coming to office as a reformer, on the promise of order and prosperity, he managed to return Russia to an authoritarian state reminiscent of the Soviet Union. Calling the disintegration of the Soviet Union “the greatest geopolitical disaster of the century,” Putin stirred war in Chechnya and Ukraine, murdered journalists and dissidents, annexed Crimea and bombed Syria, all while enjoying popular support. History is rarely made in front of our eyes, but as we’ll see in this lecture, with Trump in the White House and Putin in the Kremlin, we are witnessing one of history’s pivotal points.

Speaker: Marina Sonkina

This free event is co-sponsored by the SFU Seniors Lifelong Learners Society.