Project Putin, started when Vladimir Putin came to power in Russia in 1999 and had one major goal: To restore power to the Kremlin government and to lead Russia to becoming powerful once again. This time, communism was thrown aside in favor of values such as free speech, on the surface anyway.

The Kremlin just chose different methods for its rise to power than had been employed in the time of the former fallen dictatorship, said Peter Baker, reporter for The Washington Post.

“Russia today has been reborn, more economically prosperous at home and more assertive abroad, yet heading further and further away from the ideals of Western-style democracy that many harbored after the fall of the Soviet Union,” Baker said.

“How to address that is an enormous challenge that the United States has yet to address.”

Baker was the Moscow bureau chief, reporting in Russia, from 2001 through 2004. After the attack on the World Trade Center, he was the first American journalist into Afghanistan and lived with anti-Taliban rebels for eight months. He was embedded with the 1st Marine Expeditionary force when the United States invaded Iraq, and he now covers President Bush in the White House.

Baker will be speaking at 6 p.m. Monday in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union. This lecture will cover the book he co-authored with Susan B. Glasser, a fellow Moscow bureau chief.

The book, “Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the End of Revolution,” was written about their observations and research while in working in Russia for The Washington Post. The University Book Store will be selling his books at the event, and he will hold a book signing after the lecture.

This event is also the kickoff to the First Amendment Day events that take place during the week in celebration of the First Amendment and the freedom it grants.

“Every year, my program hosts prominent scholars, researchers and specialists in Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia,” said Olga Mesropova, assistant professor of Russian and director of the LAS Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies Program. “Peter should be a fascinating speaker because he has had a tremendous first-hand experience in Russia.”

Mesropova said Baker’s experience is important because his work in Russia started at the beginning of Putin’s power and coincided with several important events and issues in Russia.

Some of these events include terrorist acts in a Moscow theater, a state attack on oligarchs, the Second Chechen War and the rollback of democracy in Russia.

Eric Lindstrom, senior in political science and a member of the World Affairs Series Planning Committee, said the topic is significant, and that is what makes it valuable.

“Putin’s recent reforms seem to turn Russia toward a markedly authoritarian tact, which threatens regional stability and provokes concern for the freedoms of the Russian people,” Lindstrom said. “Understanding Putin and these reforms has a profoundly significant political, economical, philosophical and practical value.”