Upward Bound
Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Soviets withdraw from East Germany, forcing Putin and his family to return home.
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| Vladimir Putin |
It is while working here that Putin meets Anatoly Sobchak, the chairman of the Leningrad City Council, who offers him a position as the council’s head of foreign liaison. He resigns from the KGB and takes up the position.
His new job entails assisting foreign countries and businesses interested in doing business in Leningrad. He assists foreign banks in opening branches in the city and establishes special investment zones in which foreign companies can set up factories and offices. Soon, many international corporations, including Coca-Cola, Gillette, and Wrigley, establish branches in Leningrad.
Russia is transitioning from communist to capitalist business models, so private banks and stock exchanges are new to the country. By assisting foreign businesses set up shop, Putin learns about capitalism, investment, and how to use government to get rich. In less than two years, he has become extremely wealthy because of kickbacks from unscrupulous foreign companies and governments.
Meanwhile, the Soviet Union’s economic turmoil continues, and member-states begin to demand its dissolution. By December 1991, all its 15 member republics have become independent, so the Soviet Union and the KGB no longer exist.
As a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia becomes the Russian Federation, the world's largest country. A new constitution is enacted, allowing people to form multiple political parties, elect a president, and elect the legislature. Elections are held in July 1991 and Boris Yeltsin is elected president.
One of the first challenges Yeltsin must deal with is the growing demands for self-determination. Chechnya, a region in Southern Russia inhabited by Chechens, wants to be independent. Chechens are Muslim people whose homeland was seized by Russia in 1859. Its people despise being a part of Russia and have demanded independence for over a century. Yeltsin and other leaders are concerned that the Chechen demand might inspire other groups to secede from Russia, tearing the country apart.
Back in Leningrad, residents have demanded that the city's CEO be elected rather than appointed. Elections are called in 1992, and Sobchak runs for and wins the mayoral seat. He appoints Putin as his deputy in 1994, a position that helps him meet many prominent Russians, including President Boris Yeltsin, who hires him as a manager for his 1996 reelection campaign.
Yeltsin is re-elected, and his chief of staff, Pavel Borodin, appoints Putin as his assistant, marking the start of his meteoric rise in government. In 1997, Yeltsin appoints him as head of Russia's control directorate, which is responsible for ensuring that government employees carry out their duties as expected. A year later, in 1998, he advances once more, becoming the first head of President Yeltsin's administration, to whom all regional governors report. Still, In 1998, Yeltsin makes him the head of the FSB, the Russian intelligence agency that replaced the Soviet-era KGB.
Yeltsin promotes him yet again in 1999, appointing him Prime Minister.
Before he settles into the office, the Chechen issue flares up again after several bombs detonate in Moscow, destroying buildings, killing people, and injuring others. Putin blames the explosions on Chechen rebels, labels them terrorists, and sends Russian troops into Chechnya. During the conflict, reports emerge of Russian troops committing serious atrocities against Chechen civilians, but Putin does not take criticism. Dozens of journalists are arrested and imprisoned for covering the military operation.
Putin is unknown to most Russians when he becomes Prime Minister, so he uses war propaganda against Chechens to boost his popularity in the rest of the country. He incites emotions, giving non-Chechen Russians the impression that he is their saviour against Chechen aggression, making him one of Russia's most popular leaders.
Elections for a new president are held in February 2000, and Putin wins by a landslide. He is sworn in as Russia's second democratically elected president in May 2000.
The rest, as they say, is history.
