Vladimir Putin's Very Questionable Rise To Power

Vladimir Putin has often been described as Russia’s “accidental president.” On the surface, this seems like an appropriate term. His rise to power did happen extraordinarily quickly. After his appointment as Russia’s prime minister, many were shocked that a gray-suited nobody like Putin had suddenly found himself with so much power.

But it seems that Putin’s ascension wasn’t really a matter of chance at all. In fact, former KGB agents had been closely observing his career ever since he joined the mayoral administration of Leningrad. They had been testing his loyalties and noting the sort of image he projected in public appearances.

Both before and throughout his time in politics, Putin has hobnobbed with KGB agents, and his presidency has ensured that their power is cemented in Russian politics. In these blinks, you’ll find out exactly how that happened – and how it’s affecting both Russians and Westerners today.

In this video, you’ll learn how apartment bombings helped enable Putin’s presidency; what happened to a businessman who accused Putin of corruption; and why Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea Football Club.

From childhood, Vladimir Putin dreamed of joining the KGB, the Soviet Union’s secret police force. He was eager to follow in his father’s footsteps – so eager, in fact, that he called up the local Leningrad KGB office and asked to join before he’d even graduated school.

Throughout his education, Putin was careful to enroll in exactly the programs and classes which the KGB office directed him toward. He followed their orders with the utmost precision. All the while, he vented his aggression by practicing judo.

As a newly minted member of the KGB, Putin arrived in Dresden, East Germany, in 1985. It was there that he first encountered secret missions, smuggling, and assassinations.

The key message here is: Before entering politics, Vladimir Putin was a member of the KGB.

When Vladimir Putin arrived in Dresden, the city was known as little more than an East German backwater. In total, there were just six KGB officers posted there. Meanwhile, East Germany itself was on the verge of bankruptcy, and the ruling Communist Party was in danger of collapse.

Sensing these issues, the KGB launched a secret mission called Operation Luch. Its goal was to build up a network of agents to join political circles. That way, the KGB’s presence in Germany would survive, even if the country was reunified.

Much of Putin’s role in this operation remains a mystery. But what we do know is that Putin eventually became the main KGB liaison officer with the Stasi, the East German secret police. He even had his own Stasi identification card. That gave him access to Stasi buildings and made it easier for him to recruit agents for Operation Luch.

The secret police were deeply involved with the Red Army Faction, a Marxist group in West Germany that helped to protect KGB interests. On one occasion, the chairman of the major financial institution Deutsche Bank was driving to work when a grenade in his car was detonated, killing him instantly. It’s possible that the blast was triggered by a Red Army Faction member, and we know that this group learned precise military detonation techniques at training camps connected to the Stasi. With the chairman’s death, Deutsche Bank was weakened, and a Stasi-affiliated bank had an opportunity to gain strength.

These secret operations with the KGB and the Stasi were just the start of Putin’s long rise to power.

During the time of the Soviet Union, the KGB was a major controlling force within the Russian economy. Its power slipped in the 1990s when a group of young oligarchs rose to power, but Vladimir Putin’s presidency allowed former KGB agents to regain their grip on Russian business and politics. Throughout his presidency, Putin has slowly eroded Russia’s democracy by seizing control of the media and other industries, all while attempting to further his nation’s imperial mission and sow discord in the West.

This Vladimir Putin documentary is based on Putin's People book by Catherine Belton.

00:00 - The making of a spy
02:59 - Rise of the tycoons
04:59 - Dirty money
07:31 - From spy to president
09:59 - Oil takeover
15:08 - Russian hero?
16:49 - Conquering London
18:34 - Proxy war
22:43 - Outro

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