--- title: Persons of Years Past: 2007 | TIME description: TIME's selection of Russian Prime Minister (then-President) Validimir Putin as its Person of the Year in 2007 proved prescient canonical: https://time.com/video/PP53R6rY/ og:title: Persons of Years Past: 2007 og:description: TIME's selection of Russian Prime Minister (then-President) Validimir Putin as its Person of the Year in 2007 proved prescient og:url: https://time.com/video/PP53R6rY/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PP53R6rY/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Persons of Years Past: 2007 twitter:description: TIME's selection of Russian Prime Minister (then-President) Validimir Putin as its Person of the Year in 2007 proved prescient twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PP53R6rY/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Persons of Years Past: 2007 > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Persons of Years Past: 2007 [Watch (HLS stream): Persons of Years Past: 2007](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PP53R6rY.m3u8) (4:30)  _Published 2008-11-13. TIME's selection of Russian Prime Minister (then-President) Validimir Putin as its Person of the Year in 2007 proved prescient_ --- Jul 27, 2023 1:03 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Why Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Should be Person of the Year](/video/66ti4Ya3/) ### Why Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Should be Person of the Year [Who Should Be TIME's 2010 Person of The Year?](/video/L68zaUg4/) ### Who Should Be TIME's 2010 Person of The Year? [Person of the Year 2007: Vladimir Putin](/video/dr9QwjHZ/) ### Person of the Year 2007: Vladimir Putin --- ## Transcript >> This is Adi Ignatius, Deputy Manager and Editor of Time Magazine. Choosing Prime Minister then President, Vladimir Putin as our person of the year in 2007 proved pressure. Who would have known that while the world's attention was on the Summer Olympics, Russian troops would move into the break- away Republic of Georgia and spark talk of a new cold war. In our interview a year ago I talked to the Russian president at his dacha Outside of Moscow for several hours. >> Russia is an old country, with their deep roots and traditions and a very powerful moral foundation. >> I couldn't describe the breakup of the Soviet Union as a tragedy, since the session was never put up to a popular vote. >> What did the collaborates of the Soviet Union mean? Twenty- five million Soviet citizens who are ethnic Russians, found themselves Beyond the borders of New Russia. I'm sure if you were to hold a referendum and many of the former Soviet Republicans asking, " Would you like to be separate ?" The vast majority would say no. >> We asked Putin if he was essentially trying to succeed himself when his presidential term expired, by becoming a so- called national leader. He didn't really deny and today as Prime Minister, he is still Russia's decision maker. There's a fair amount of speculations that he may once again Return to the Kremlin. Before he stepped down as president last Spring, here's how he defined his perspective role as Prime Minister. >> I would be guided by the constitution in law within the authority as prescribed by law. Rules, houses, education, these are the things that are the most important to our people. At the same time, The key prerogatives of administrative personnel and the political area and the defense area of course, would remain the preview of the president. >> Finally, given Russia's researching in the world stage, we asked Putin what he thinks should be done in Iraq. >> Well, our position on Iraq is well- known. From the very beginning I considered, That it was a mistake and I spoke publicly about it. Now, I do not have a reason to change this point of view and the developments of recent years have proved that we were right. Today, we must think in terms of what to do in the near future. Overall, I agree with President Bush when he says that everything must be done, So that the Iraqi authorities are able to deal with the security issues on their own. They need help in establishing, in creating their army, security forces and police. So that questions of this kind can be dealt with by the Iraqis themselves. What we differ about is they believed that it's possible to impose timeframes for the withdrawal. In my view, it would be better said rather than planned. Prompting the Iraqi authorities to be more proactive, because they know that they would always have American Armed Forces behind their backs, maybe they will feel comfortable under such an umbrella. But if and when they know that the deadline is there, after such and such a day, Americans And other foreign forces would leave the country. They would be forced to think about what to do now and from now on. That's important. 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