Moscow's Man to Watch: Vladimir Putin Insists He's a Democrat. but His KGB Past Is Raising Questions Inside Russia and around the World

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Two weeks ago, on the night before Russia's parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the headquarters of the FSB, one of the successor agencies to the KGB, at its building on what used to be called Dzerzhinsky Square. Feliks Dzerzhinsky founded the secret police in 1917, and Putin, a longtime member of the security apparat, was there to celebrate the anniversary with his former colleagues. FSB officers were more than glad to have him. "Finally," a partygoer said, "one of us is going to be president."

The central question about Boris Yeltsin's chosen successor is straightforward: Is Vladimir Putin at heart a democrat, a trustworthy custodian of Russia's …