During his three years as Kremlin correspondent for the liberal business daily Kommersant, Andrei Kolesnikov kept close watch on the everyday doings of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Now, in a collection of two books of more than 800 pages of his reports from 2001 to 2004, the journalist presents a densely detailed view of the changing definition of what it means to be a modern-day national leader. We watch as Putin banters, eats, interrogates, dutifully hands out awards, meets with boneheaded government officials, schmoozes his peers at world summits, and jawbones with ordinary folk. Throughout Ya Putina Videl! (I Saw Putin!) and Menya Putin Videl! (Putin Saw Me!), Kolesnikov regales us with crushing banality, mindless protocol, and occasional moments of genuine excitement.

To his credit, though, Kolesnikov is the first to assure us that he doesn’t know what’s really going on. All he sees are the president’s public activities, and he can only conjecture about what’s happening behind closed doors. Still, even appearances can be revealing. Accompanying Putin on his travels throughout Russia, Kolesnikov discovers that the Potemkin Village reflex is alive and well: Just before Putin’s arrival in small-town Russia, provincial officials hurry to re-asphalt roads, switch on long-dormant fountains, and supply basic utilities to long-neglected townspeople.

On one of his visits to a regional backwater, Putin makes a point of inviting people from the nearby area to a restaurant for a chat. Kolesnikov is mystified, at first, when the president’s staff explains that the name of the meeting place will be kept secret until the last minute. Why? To prevent the local government from stacking the delegation of “ordinary folk” with local...