In April 2025, a text allegedly taken from the autobiographical book of the former US President and dedicated to his impressions of communicating with Russian politicians circulated on the Internet. We decided to check whether he actually wrote anything like that.
The text is published and discussed by social network users (Facebook, X, "VKontakte", Instagram, Telegram, Threads, Reddit), blogging platforms And forums. The full statement attributed to Obama reads like this (the author's spelling and punctuation are preserved. - Ed.): “I can’t understand the Russian character. I have met with Russian politicians many times. The Russian brazenly lies and looks into your eyes and knows that you see this lie and he is not at all ashamed. Lies are exactly what haunts the Russian authorities everywhere. At all the meetings with Russian politicians, I got the impression that all of them were only interested in the monologue, and your comments or objections were not at all interesting. And at best, they let you say a few words on camera. Face to face, I only listened to those I met. He barely had time to say hello and start saying something, when an endless monologue immediately began, in which all the claims against the United States and discontent from different sides were outlined in detail and harshly. Russian politicians reminded me of the people who once ruled the Chicago mafia during the “Great Depression” in America. Being the President of the United States and dealing with politicians of various levels in Russia, I realized that I had to communicate not with highly educated people, but with street-bred, tough, devoid of any sentimentality, narrow-minded types who never went beyond the limits of their limited experience and who always valued the roof, bribes, blackmail, deception and, periodically, violence, as legitimate methods of their activities. Diplomatic language for Russian politicians does not exist at all, there is pressing against the wall and the language of “their own concepts.” Addressing the Russians in the audience, I said that America could not and should not fight for them, that the fate of Russia was their business; but I added that I would root for them, firmly convinced that all people strive for the principles of human rights, the rule of law and self-government.” Some fragments of this statement appear on the page of the former US President in “Wikiquote"
In many viral publications, unlike numerous other cases when Internet users attribute certain quotes to famous personalities, it is indicated exactly where this statement was taken from: from the 10th chapter of Obama’s autobiography A Promised Land (“Promised Land” - English). Some even specify the book's imprint, mentioning Penguin Random House and 2020. However, this chapter says nothing about Russian politicians and Russia as a whole. Obama it talks about the difficulties he had to face in the first months of his presidency. The politician took office shortly after the 2008 financial crisis, and he had to quickly take emergency measures to support the national economy.
In other chapters, Obama actually shares his impressions of meetings and negotiations with his Russian counterparts - Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev. The ex-president of the United States indeed criticizes his foreign colleagues, but he does it much more diplomatically than is stated in the verified publications.
Thus, in the 19th chapter of his autobiography, Obama notes that under Putin, Russia is moving along the path of authoritarianism. An American politician tells how, over time, all power ended up in the hands of those close to the Russian president, and his critics and opposition were subjected to repression. Obama describes his meeting with Putin in 2009 (he was then prime minister) as follows: “I barely had time to finish the question (about what Putin thinks about Russian-American relations. - Ed.) when Putin launched into a animated and seemingly endless monologue, describing every alleged injustice, betrayal and neglect that he and the Russian people suffered at the hands of the Americans” (here and further quotations are given in the translation “Verified”).
Later that day, Obama attended a summit of Russian-US democratic leaders, hosted by then-US Ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul. In his autobiography, the politician recalls how he was asked about his impressions of meeting Putin and how he laughed it off, but thought: “Putin, in fact, reminded me of the people who once ruled Chicago car or Tammany Hall (the executive committee of the Democratic Party in New York in the 19th and 20th centuries, known for its ties to organized crime and the use of corruption to achieve political objectives - Ed.), - tough, smart, unsentimental characters who knew what they knew, who never went beyond the limits of their narrow experience and who viewed patronage, bribery, extortion, fraud and occasional violence as legitimate tools of the trade. For them, as for Putin, life was a zero-sum game; you could do business with those who were not of your tribe, but in the end you could not trust them. You took care of yourself first, and then of yours. In such a world, lack of conscience, contempt for any lofty aspirations beyond the accumulation of power, was not a disadvantage. They were an asset." This statement is close to one of the parts of the quote being analyzed, however, Obama here compares Putin not with the mafia, but with American politicians of the 20th century, who adhered to a tough style of political struggle. In addition, we are talking specifically about Putin, and not about Russian politicians in general.
At the end of the summit, Obama writes, he made a speech to the activists, human rights defenders, and leaders of non-profit and charitable organizations present at the event. In his autobiography, he describes it this way: “When I finally stood up to speak, I praised the people in the room for their courage and dedication and urged them to focus not only on democracy and civil rights, but also on concrete strategies to provide jobs, education, health care and decent housing. Addressing the Russians in the room, I said that America could not and should not fight for them, that the future of Russia must be determined by them; but I added that I would root for them, firmly convinced that all people strive for the principles of human rights, the rule of law and self-government.” Thus, the last part of the quote under analysis is close to Obama’s actual statements, but taken out of context. The viral text gives the impression that the American politician is disappointed in communicating with deceitful and corrupt Russian politicians and warns them that the United States will not fight for Russia's prosperity. In fact, it was an inspiring speech, delivered to activists of whom Obama writes with great respect: “I was glad that I could, however briefly, lift the spirits of good people doing hard and sometimes dangerous work.”
“Verified” was unable to find the first part of the quotation in the book, which talks about deceitful Russian politicians. The closest thing comes in Chapter 14 of Obama's autobiography, where he describes his conversation with Medvedev about the Russian invasion of Georgia in August 2008. Although Medvedev adhered to Russia’s publicly stated position in the dialogue and expressed arguments in favor of the legality of Moscow’s actions, it seemed to Obama that his counterpart not only did not believe in his words, but also wanted his American colleague to understand this too. The former US president claims that this situation reminded him of statement writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn about Soviet times: “Lies have become not just a moral category, but also a pillar of state.” This fragment is very far from what is attributed to Obama in viral posts, and besides, it again refers to a specific person (this time to Medvedev), and not to all Russian politicians.
Despite the fact that Obama’s autobiography, which is logical, was originally published in English, in the English-speaking segment of the Internet the statement being analyzed is extremely rare. Single publications in this language were mainly written by users who, apparently, speak Russian and simply translated the quote into English. One might assume that it was taken from Russian translation Obama's (apparently amateurish) autobiography, which can be found on the RuNet. However, in fact, it turned out that the real fragments discussed above coincide almost verbatim, and the first part of the quotation about deceitful Russian politicians and Russian character is also missing in the translation. “Verified” did not find it in other authoritative sources, for example, on Obama’s social networks or his interviews.
“Verified” was unable to discover where exactly the text was published for the first time, since many publications were no longer available at the time of writing the analysis, despite the fact that not much time had passed since their appearance. The earliest publication found is fast in LiveJournal on August 19, 2023. At the time, the statement attributed to Obama apparently did not attract much attention, but for some reason it began to circulate widely a year and a half later. It was not possible to determine whether the text was first published in this post or whether there were earlier, but not preserved, publications. At least the first part, which appears to have been completely made up and then attributed to Obama, met on social networks back in 2022.
Thus, the quote attributed to Barack Obama is a compilation from the text of an unknown author, as well as noticeably distorted and/or out of context fragments from the politician's autobiography. Moreover, all the characteristics that Obama gave in his book were given personally to Putin and Medvedev, and not to Russian politicians in general.
Cover photo: Kremlin.ru, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Read on the topic:
- Barack Obama. A Promised Land
- BBC. Obama's memoirs: what the former US president thinks of Putin, Erdogan, Merkel and other leaders
- Re:Baltica. Obamas citti par Krievijas politiiem ir sagrozti
- Is the recording of the conversation in which Obama said that the US Democratic Party was behind the assassination attempt on Trump true?
- Did McFaul say that educated Americans share Putin's position on Ukraine?
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