LILLEY: Harper calls Putin an evil 'Bond villain' — and he's right

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Stephen Harper once famously quipped to George W. Bush, that he was lucky Vladimir Putin had only shown Bush his dog. The American president relayed in his memoir that Putin had been unimpressed with Bush’s Scottish terrier named Barney and asked if he could introduce Bush to his own dogs.

“As we walked the birch-lined grounds of his dacha, a big black Labrador came charging across the lawn. With a twinkle in his eye, Vladimir said, ‘Bigger, stronger, and faster than Barney,’” Bush wrote in his memoir.

“You’re lucky he only showed you his dog,” Stephen Harper told Bush, according to the book.

It’s the kind of dry humour that Harper is known for, among those who know him. His comments also speak to his view of Putin, which was on display again this week as Harper referred to the Russian leader as “evil” and described him a “Bond villain.”

Speaking at a gathering of Canadian and American politicians in Saskatoon, Harper said that of all the people he has met, more people ask about Putin than anyone else.

“I get asked more about Vladimir Putin, meeting Vladimir Putin than any single person,” Harper said.

Harper’s host pointed out that as PM, he personally called out Putin in 2014 after his invasion of Crimea.

“Yeah, and I don’t accept a drink from him or anything like that,” Harper said laughing, knowing that the Russian leader is famous for finding ways to kill those who have spoken out against him.

In 2014, at the G20 Summit in Australia, Harper was blunt with Putin who had recently sent Russian troops into Crimea, taking over a large part of Ukraine.

“I guess I’ll shake your hand but I have only one thing to say to you: You need to get out of Ukraine,” Harper said.

The interaction framed their relationship going forward.

“I publicly called him out, but privately, at the end, I was calling him out on this stuff all the time, and getting under his skin, actually, which I enjoyed,” Harper said on Monday.

He described the Russian leader as gifted and intelligent but misguided.

“He’s in many ways, a very impressive individual. Vladimir Putin is very smart,” Harper said.

“He is very smart. He is very hard working. He’s extremely disciplined. You know, he would come into any meeting I ever saw, just fantastically well briefed.”

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He also described someone who, based on his past as a KGB agent, could immediately size someone up and then use their weaknesses against them.

“So, he has a lot of great attributes, and the problem is, though, this is a big problem, he’s an evil man,” Harper said.

“He took a fledgling democracy and turned it back into a tyranny. He is creating no institutions, no long-term plan for Russia. He will leave the country poorer and in chaos when he goes and I think this is a real tragedy for Russia.”

Harper said in the end that if Putin had better angels, it would have been better for Russia and the Russian people.

“It’s a tragedy that somebody with his ability just wasn’t imbued with any sense of ideals or higher purpose,” Harper said.

Under former prime minister Brian Mulroney, Canada played a big role in moving Russia towards democracy after the fall of the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall. There was a hope that Russia would move not only towards democracy, but towards the West.

For many years they did, and then Putin took power.

Harper was among the first to recognize the problem and to call him out.

Sadly, Putin still has supporters in the West who believe this dictator, this autocrat, is just misunderstood. More than a decade ago, Harper understood who Putin was and called him out.

I’ll stand with Harper over Putin any day of the week, and all Canadians should feel the same.