A 22-year old Vladimir Putin in 1975 after joining the KGB as a counter-intelligence operative.
He was later posted to East Germany where he worked until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
He returned to Russia and began work at Leningrad State University before he was roped into politics in 1991 by his mentor, the Mayor of St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) Anatoly Sobchak.
He worked as a fixer for Sobchak and resolved many problems related to organised crime syndicates.
Sobchak introduced Putin to an influential billionaire Boris Berezovsky. Berezovsky was very influential in the Kremlin. He had amassed his wealth through the looting of state assets during the collapse of the Soviet Union like many oligarchs at the time.
When Sobchak lost the mayoral race in 1996, Berezovsky recommended Putin to be the Head of the FSB (successor to the KGB). He quickly rose through the ranks and was appointed Prime Minister by Boris Yeltsin.
At the time of his appointment as Prime Minister, a group of influential billionaires were assisting Yeltsin in identifying his successor and particularly a person who will protect their interests and Yeltsin’s legacy.
A terrorist attack by Chechen rebels occurred in Moscow in 1999 and Putin was tasked with resolving the Chechen problem. Putin went on to unleash the wrath of God on Chechnya and gained him popularity in Russia.
The elite group of billionaires led by Berezovsky believed that Putin was their man, a person they can trust to secure their interests in the post Yeltsin era. They recommended Putin to Yeltsin to be his successor.
On 31 December 1999, Yeltsin announced his resignation and Putin became acting President. The billionaire elites who believed that their man was in power were grossly mistaken.
After taking the reins of power, Putin disgusted by the rampant looting that happened during the collapse of the Soviet and during Yeltsin’s tenure went after the oligarchs.
Still intoxicated by the Yeltsin era influence and power, the oligarchs attempted to mount some resistance to Putin’s new order. It became a catastrophic mistake, which they paid dearly for.
At the time, Mikhail Khodorkovsky was Russia’s richest man and ran the largest oil company, Yukos, which was built from looted state assets. Khodorkovsky and his cabal of oligarchs were not prepared to play by the new rules. They had been making rules.
Putin threw Khodorkovsky and his associate Platon Lebedev in prison, followed by the state expropriating Yukos oil company. The rest of the other billionaires like Berezovsky fled Russia. The new sheriff was in town.
Berezovsky settled in London where he later committed suicide in 2013 after many failed attempts to reset relations with Putin.
Khodorkovsky spent over 10 years in prison and following his release, he fled Russia.
There is a famous video of Putin in 2009 confronting billionaire Oleg Deripaska who had closed his factories and refused to pay workers. Putin made Deripaska sign a commitment to open the factories and pay the workers.
The moment yet again symbolised the authority of the state over oligarchs who for the longest time ran riot. Putin showed them that no one was above the state.
As they say, the rest is history.
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