here is the full transcript of the Times Magazine interview with Putin: http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/printout/0,29239,1690753_1690757_1695787,00.html

here is the full transcript of the Times Magazine interview with Putin: http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/printout/0,29239,1690753_1690757_1695787,00.html http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/printout/0,29239,1690... it's pretty interesting, actually. For example, Putin is often quoted with saying that the Collapse of the Soviet Union was the "biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the (last) century." Without context, that sounds like strange, if not downright dangerous thinking to western ears. But it also can help our understanding how the collapse and the chaotic 90s were perceived by the Russians themselves: TIME: Were the 1990s a time of paradox for you? On the one hand, you say it gave you the Gorbachev freedoms; on the other hand, in your statements you have stated that there was a period of total collapse and the tragedy of the destruction of the Soviet Union. PUTIN: I don't see a paradox here. The administrative planning system that prevailed in economic life, and the complete domination of the Communist Party in the political area, resulted in a collapse of the country. When people no longer cared about the state they lived in, they didn't need such a state, therefore there was no surprise that the people couldn't care less about that state. They believed that things couldn't get any worse, but it turned out that they could, and did. The tragedy is that people were utterly dissatisfied and disillusioned because the free-for-all was declared as democracy, the theft of billions of dollars was described as the free market and the theft of enormous assets belonging to the people were declared privatization. What did the collapse of the Soviet Union mean? Twenty-five million Soviet citizens who were ethnic Russians found themselves beyond the borders of new Russia. Nobody gave thought to them. Twenty-five million would make up a major European nation. Before taking a decision, one should consult the population. Do you want to live separate from the state you live in now? I'm confident that if we were to hold a referendum in many of the former Soviet republics, the vast majority would say no. But nobody asked them. Was that a democratic solution? Of such a difficult problem? Well, we're not trying to revisit this but that was so. Who asked us or them? Twenty-five million Russians found themselves outside the Russian Federation, without any economic means, amid growing local nationalism. When they couldn't possibly come to the new Russia, to their historical motherland, because they didn't even have money to buy a train or a plane ticket. Is it not a tragedy?