The Wizard of the Kremlin –  A Fictional Portrayal of Putin That’s Frightfully Accurate

Repeatedly, U.S. Presidents have attempted to get into the mind and heart of Russian President Vladimir Putin. George W. Bush once said: “I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. I was able to get a sense of his soul.” He later regretted that statement. Donald Trump rejected the findings by U.S. intelligence officials that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. “President Putin says it’s not Russia. I don’t see any reason why it would be,” he said in Helsinki after meeting with Putin. Trump has called Putin “genius,” “smart,” and “savvy.” Barack Obama compared Putin to a tough “Chicago ward boss.” President Joe Biden, commenting about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine said, “Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences.”

Putin continues to take up a lot of space in the brains of U.S. presidents, as well as in those of leaders around the world. Even though Putin now rules over a country that is a shadow of what it once was, he remains a clear and present danger because of Russia’s nuclear arsenal and his autocratic and impulsive nature. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has unsettled Europe and, whether the U.S. continues to funnel aid to Ukraine, will be a major issue in the 2024 presidential campaign.

While there have been numerous non-fiction books written about Putin, a novel written by the Italian and Swiss writer Giuliano da Empoli created headlines and controversy after it was published in France, sold 430,000 copies and won several prizes. Critics felt The Wizard of the Kremlin, in an attempt to explain the Russian leader, presented a favorable view of a dictator who rules Russia with an iron fist and has no reluctance to jail or kill his opponents, and then will deny doing so. Whether Da Empoli truly nails Putin’s character and motivations doesn’t matter to French officials who reportedly now seek his advice about all things Kremlin. Da Empoli was deputy mayor for culture in Florence and a senior advisor to Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi. (Translated by Willard Wood, the book is now available in the U.S.)

In the novel, the actual wizard is Vadim Baranov, a producer for the TV network ORT, whose job is creating programs that will appeal to the masses. “The Americans had nothing new to teach us, in fact we were the ones pushing  the envelope when it came to trash broadcasts,” Baranov tells the narrator of the book. At one point, Baranov came up with the idea of producing a “big patriotic show,” and asked the audience to name their heroes. Rather than the country’s great minds, like Tolstoy and Pushkin, the people wanted dictators. “Their heroes, the country’s founding figures, were all bloodstained autocrats: Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Lenin, Stalin.” 

Along with ORT’s billionaire owner, Boris Berezovsky, Baranov comes up with the idea to tap Putin as the successor to Boris Yeltsin, who is so failing in health he has to be propped up to insert his ballot into the box on election day. They meet with Putin at the headquarters of FSB, the new KGB. Putin pushes back on the idea of becoming Russia’s leader, telling the two, “I’m a bureaucrat.” Baranov puts aside Putin’s objections. “What [the Russian people] want especially right now is stability and security. He adds: “The trick will be to present you as a politician who’s not like all the rest.” Where have we heard that before? Putin, in fact, needs little convincing. Baranov comes on board as political advisor to “the tsar.”

Anyone who is worried that U.S. democracy is in danger will not find Da Empoli’s novel an easy read. Many of the strategies Baranov comes up with, Putin puts to use succeeding in silencing public opinion while convincing a majority of the people that the country is in good hands because there is “internal order and external power.” While Baranov may be the wizard, in the end when the curtain is pulled back he’s just another puppet being jerked around by a dictator. And we definitely see that scenario still playing out on Capitol Hill. 

The Wizard of the Kremlin
Giuliano da Empoli
Translated by Willard Wood

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