Me saw Putin!

here must be few jobs more fascinating and, ultimately, more frustrating than that of a Kremlin correspondent -- being so close and yet so far away, seeing so much and yet able to say so little.

In Andrei Kolesnikov's two-volume collection of reports from the first four years of Vladimir Putin's presidency, "I Saw Putin!" ( Ya Putina Videl!) and "Putin Saw Me!" (Menya Putin Videl!), the Kremlin correspondent for Kommersant uses a peculiar, pithy narrative style, telling the story between the lines while staying faithful to his subjects' words.

writes Guy Faulconbridge at the Moscow Times.

I thought it would be funnier not because his Russian is broken but coz the Russian title sounds much less formal than the regular English translation of it.
I don't buy books, except dictionaries. It's kinda shameful to admit but I'm just not used to it. But these ones, I've bouught them both.

Thought I must say that the title is somewhat misleading. The main source of entertaintment is not Putin himself but the people he gets in contact with. Ranging from his ministers to regional bosses, WWII veterans and foreign presidents.
Especially, regional officials and other bureaucrats.

"Minister of Agriculture spoke right after the general.
- Agricultural producers have begun to exprience difficulties since winter. Since when the snow covered the ground, unexpected events have started."

"President Putin told us that Russia has learnt a lot from Canada and went on to explain what exactly. Who would think, for example, that we've been utilizing Canadian experience in the realm of federalism by waging a war in Chechnia..."