Who is Vladimir Putin? A little over a year ago, as the calendar turned to the year 2000, many were asking, “Who is this man?” The day the world was braced for the uncertain, Y2K, the possibility that Soviet-era warheads may be pointed and automatically fired, then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin stepped down from the Russian presidency and named his successor, the current prime minister, Vladimir Putin.In the year or so prior to the abrupt leadership transition, dissatisfaction with Yeltsin mounted. He was changing prime ministers seasonally, and concerns about his health, well-being and capacity to lead were growing. Despite his assurances to ride out the coming Y2K and its defense implications, Yeltsin handed the reins to a former KGB intelligence agent. Mildly put, the world was shocked. Last March, Putin won his re-election bid and settled firmly into his position of power.In the year since then, Russia under Putin has appeared to have stabilized and become less of a potential crisis. Perhaps the appearance is symptomatic of weariness with the flux characteristic of Russia during the late Yeltsin years, an economy crashing while the rest of the world boomed. We may just be tired of Russia’s increasing poverty and its diminishing power. Who is Vladimir Putin, and what is he doing for Russia?Putin rose on a tide of popular opinion, in Russias’ outrage against little Chechnya, a break-away country in the Caucuses Mountains. The Chechen mafia was blamed for deadly bombings in Moscow, and Russians greeted Putin’s hard-line approach on quelling the Chechen revolt with fervor. We all saw the news reports from the decimated Chechen capital of Groznyy as well as the refugees streaming out to neighboring areas.While the United States may have been disturbed by the pummeling tiny Chechnya took at the hands of the Russian military, the tenuous balance in the Balkans left the United States standing blithely by as Moscow essentially destroyed any chance that the Chechen mafia would come knocking again. Despite the expense of running a war and having thousands of refugees, this token reassertion of Russian dominance over anything was met with wild approval by the Russian public.Simultaneously, Putin was flirting with the West by politely disregarding his “domestic affairs” in Chechnya and trying to become “part of the Western club.” In meetings with Western European leaders, Putin illuminated his preference for all cultural things Western — foods, sports and the arts. He paid enough lip service to alleviate some scrutiny and establish firmer footing on the international jungle gym. Additionally, his engagement in global affairs seemed to squelch the Yelstin-esque Russian isolation, widely viewed as an improvement in international relations.Domestically, Putin has made concerted efforts to move away from Yeltsin’s failed brand of proto-democracy. Some of the cosmetic changes include the symbols of Russia, such as the national anthem and flags. The Russian national anthem is now set to the old Soviet-anthem music and the Red Banner is the official symbol of the Army. If these seem reminiscent of the Soviet era, consider what the British Broadcasting Corporation called the phenomena: “Back in the U.S.S.R.” The irony of the situation is that a decade ago, instilling democracy in Russia was number one on the U.S. foreign policy wish list. Today, after a failed first decade of elections and a free market economy, the international community seems to be silently relieved that someone is on the top of the food chain again in Russia.However, Russia needs more than an invigorating patriot or a military hard-liner. Comparable to many African nations in terms of per capita annual income, Russia is in extreme disarray with shortages of food, power and public health care. In one of the coldest winters in living memory, Siberians have backlogged the hospitals to the point that in some hospitals not enough anesthetic remains for all the frost-bite related amputations required. An AIDs crisis looms in Russia, and its increasing incidence of HIV infection is another indicator of its divergence from the West.While the world looks past the stoic, enigmatic head of the Russian state, we seem to have forgotten about our commitment to assisting Russia in the transition. Russia — and other newly independent states of the former Soviet Union — are in real need of international cooperation in facing the challenges ahead. We cannot afford to ignore a nation that spans half the world’s time zones. Putin will be a major figure in U.S.-foreign relations, whether we can ascertain who he is or not.Rachel Faber is a senior in agronomy from Emmetsburg.