How did President Vladimir Putin come to power in Russia?

When Vladimir Putin became acting president of Russia in the final days of the 20th century, the former spy was a mystery to many. History takes a look at how an amazing leader survived a tough childhood and rose to power in the Kremlin.

On December 31, 1999, Russian President Boris Yeltsin made the shocking announcement that he was resigning, telling television viewers: “Russia must enter the new millennium with new politicians, new faces, new intelligent, strong and energetic people.” Amid rampant corruption and major political and social problems, Yeltsin’s presidency became increasingly unpopular and unpredictable. Although he played a key role in the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, his tenure was a traumatic period for Russia as it transitioned from a communist state economy to a free market economy.

At midnight, Vladimir Putin, seen as Yeltsin’s successor and a newcomer to the new century, gave his first televised address as acting president. “There will be no power vacuum,” he promised. There was also a warning. “Any attempt to go beyond the limits of the law and the Russian Constitution will be decisively crushed,” he said. Thin, healthy and level-headed, Putin was popular in a country accustomed to the erratic behavior of Yeltsin, who was drunk and unhealthy, so much so that his mere arrival as president could make the news. there were.

When Putin became prime minister in August 1999, he was a relatively unknown former KGB man. By the end of the year, when he became acting president, he had become popular for his hardline stance against war in the independent Chechen republic. When elections were held in March 2000, Putin received almost 53% of the votes in the first round and was approved as president. Polls show that most Russians want economic stability above all else. Putin’s basic message to voters was to make Russia strong again.

The new leader of the world’s largest country has risen to the top without leaving a trace. It was clear that the 47-year-old was a man who liked to talk tough. He is a black belt in judo and has made comments such as calling lawbreakers “rats that should be crushed.” But what kind of person was he really like?

President Putin grew up in St. Petersburg, then known as Leningrad. Founded by Peter the Great, the city is not only full of Western influences, but also retains echoes of Russia’s grand imperial era. The BBC interviewed Putin’s former judo coach in 2001, who said Putin was a star pupil who could have made the Olympic team. Anatoly Rakulin explained that President Putin was always determined to outwit his opponents, if not by brute force. “He could throw with equal skill in either direction. And his opponents expected him to throw from the right, which he would.” was invisible, so it was very difficult for opponents to defeat him, because he was constantly fooling them. ”

President Putin was born in 1952, seven years after the end of World War II. His older brother was killed during the Siege of Leningrad, and his parents barely survived. He grew up in a crowded communal apartment with a shared kitchen and bathroom, full of rats and cockroaches. In his autobiography, he recalls how, as a boy, he had to fight rats on the stairs. “Once, I found a huge rat and chased it down the hallway until I cornered it. Suddenly, the rat went wild and threw itself at me. It jumped off the landing and then down the stairs.”

According to Professor Nina Khrushchev, the great-granddaughter of former Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev, the tone of his famous cornered rat anecdote can be more or less aggressive depending on the audience. Speaking about Putin on a BBC podcast in 2023, she said: “He wanted to show his humble upbringing and how far he had come, what kind of enemies he had to endure in his life, and how he started enduring the worst of life. , always chose to speak.” In the form of a living being, he rises to confront all kinds of enemies, foreign and domestic. ”

Childhood friend Maria Osolina, a psychologist, told the BBC in 2003 that the harsh environment in which they grew up meant it was “survival of the fittest”. So it was very important for him to be strong and not get hit,” she said.

She said her family had strong values ​​of duty, patriotism and loyalty. “His parents loved him very much. He was the center of their world, the son they had been waiting for. However, their personalities were very restrained by nature and they did not show much emotion. His father was very cold on the outside, and his mother would never have thought of kissing him in public.”

Friends and acquaintances remember the young Putin as intelligent but self-sufficient. His classmate Sergei Kudrov told the BBC in 2001 that he was “never the center of attention”. “He liked to influence things from afar and was, as they say, a kind of ‘gray cardinal’. Quite unlike Boris Yeltsin. Remember how it was,” he told the tank. Did he get on and motion for everyone to follow him? He is an introvert, a man of action rather than words. ”

He had a romantic desire to become a KGB agent and serve his country incognito. Perhaps it was the perfect job for someone who wants to stay out of the spotlight. By his own admission, his inspiration was the 1968 Soviet spy film The Shield and the Sword. The story is about a Russian double agent posing as a driver in wartime Germany, stealing documents and sabotaging Nazi operations.

Putin never wavered from his boyhood ambition to become an intelligence agent, through university and KGB training. At the age of 16, he entered the local KGB headquarters and asked for a job. They told him to study law and then wait. Six years later, he was hired by an agency. For more than 16 years, Putin led a double life as an intelligence officer. He was serving in East Germany when the Berlin Wall fell. He returned to Russia, where all the old certainties were crumbling.

In 1991, Putin became deputy to Leningrad’s new mayor, Anatoly Sobchak. After Sobchak was voted out, the Kremlin headhunted Putin. As Yeltsin’s government was teetering toward its end, Putin quietly rose to power and became prime minister in 1999. The man appeared out of nowhere and suddenly appeared everywhere all at once.

For Maria Osolina, Putin’s old friend in 2003, his leadership was a breath of fresh air. “I was born in 1950, and since then I haven’t had a single leader that I’ve enjoyed watching. I haven’t liked any of them.” Putin was the first person to rule Russia since the revolution. He’s someone I really like, and he’s the first person we’re not ashamed of. ”

President Putin has been in power for a quarter of a century, longer than any Kremlin leader since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. He is now 72 years old and in his fifth term as president, and earlier this year the BBC’s Paul Kirby said that “all signs of opposition to his rule have disappeared and he could remain in office until 2036 if he wishes.” There is little to prevent it.” .

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