To understand how will react to the indignity forced on him by the mutiny, it's worth bearing in mind two highly revealing encounters he had with a radio host called Alexei Venediktov, one of Russia's most independent-minded and perceptive media commentators.At the first meeting, held just after the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, Venediktov sat down with Putin for two hours, drinking white wine and discussing the conflict. 'Then [Putin] says: 'Listen, you were a history teacher. What will they write about me in the school textbooks?' ' Venediktov recalls.Initially thrown by the question, he recovers by trotting out some key events from Putin's first two terms in office.
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