Who was Vladimir Putin before he became president? (from Quora)

Elena Gold

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Media analyst Mon

Who was Vladimir Putin before he became president?

Vladimir Putin removed all copies of his first official biography from libraries — even the heavily abridged version contradicted the version he wants to give to the public today.

But there were stories in that biography (and posts by his ex-wife after the divorce), which were available at the time; people still have copies. (I included info from these sources in my latest book.)

• Young Vova grew in poverty.
  There is a story that says he was adopted and spent 1st years of his life in a remote Caucasus village with his biological mother, where he was mercilessly bullied by local kids. His mother was from a town in the Urals, midway to Siberia. After a few years, she sent her son back home and her parents gave the boy to relatives in St. Petersburg to raise. (His official parents were quite old when the boy was born in early 1950s. It was customary to hide the fact of adoption at the time in the USSR; some kids never learned the truth. Allegedly, Putin might be 1–2 years older than his official age — the date of birth was changed at adoption.)
• Somehow, Vova decided to train in judo. His judo trainer during teenage years happened to be a former felon and criminal “authority” in the criminal ranks. This is why we are where we are today. He taught him how to be a mafia boss, taught him mafia “understandings.”

Leonid Usvyatsov (“Lyonya-sportsman”) was killed in 1994. On his grave, he demanded to put his own poetry on the tombstone. “I died, but mafia is immortal,” the words say.

Putin (center) was complimentary about his judo trainer in his early interviews; now Usvyatsov’s name is all but whitewashed from his biographies.

• Apparentlty, it was Usvyatsev who helped Vova to get to the law school with judo scholarship, and then recommended him to join the KGB as a snitch during his university years. Vova was so good at snitching that he was invited to join them. (Putin’s post-Soviet boss Sobchak who brought him into politics was also a KGB snitch, as a professor at the same university… The KGB installed their people in power in St. Petersburg immediately after the USSR dissolved).
• Vova joined the KGB in 1975, trying to make a career. First, he was taking tips from snitches and pestering dissidents. Then he was shaking up the locals who planned to emigrate to Israel (the only group allowed to leave the USSR were those whose nationality was listed as “Jewish”); some say he was giving addresses to Usvyatsov’s crew, to clean up valuables from their apartments, as they were selling everything before leaving.
• In 1985, Vova got his dream job: post to East Germany. For that, he had to get married and get a kid (singles weren’t viewed as reliable by the KGB; they could defect). His wife said he dreamed to save enough money to buy a car on return to the USSR, so they were eating the cheapest food, trying to spend as little money as possible, and saving the meager “foreign trip” allowances, allocated to these working abroad (Soviet salaries were negligible; would take decades to save enough money for a car). This shows you the position Vova managed to acquire after 10 years in the KGB — not much.
• But then, the East Germans destroyed the Wall in 1989, and the Soviet spies were kicked out. His dream position abroad ended abruptly. He never got anywhere high, mostly organizing parties and entertainment for his bosses. Formally, he worked with the Stasi as a low level clerk, assisting in what he was accustomed to do at home: dissidents, snitching.
• In 1991, Putin officially left the communist party during the August coup (KGB tried to take power and lost). He was already working under “democrat” Sobchak, who took him as an aide after being elected as a mayor of St. Petersburg. Within months, the USSR officially ended.
• As Sobchak’s aide, he flourished, during the stage when the former Soviet apparatchiks were robbing the state assets. (Vova used his connections in the world of organized crime to build some creative schemes.) But he didn’t become an oligarch. He only got enough money and connections to find a job as an aide in Yeltsin’s administration when Sobchak lost re-election in 1996. (Vova was responsible for organizing his campaign.)

Vova in 1994, during Prince Charles’s visit to St. Petersburg. His wife remembers how they pulled clothes from friends (including shoes), because he had nothing “appropriate.”

• In Yeltsin’s administration, he got noticed for his helpfulness. After much deliberation, Yeltsin’s oligarchs decided to pick him as a successor to the boss, because he seemed obedient and non-threatening. Most other candidates were too ambitious, and Yeltsin’s “Family” were worried they’d get in trouble and lose their assets and freedom under them (like Sobchak nearly did, after losing power — but Vova sneaked him out of the country). Putin promised he’d protect Yeltsin’s “Family”.
• They promoted Putin as the director of the FSB (former KGB). Then, they promoted him to the post of the Prime Minister.
• Putin took power de facto in August 1999. In Dec. 1999, Yeltsin officially resigned and Putin became the acting president.
• Media oligarchs helped Putin get officially elected as president in March 2000.
• After he was inaugurated in May 2000, he confiscated their media holdings, so the oligarchs wouldn’t be able to do the same for someone else.

It’s the 27th year of Putin in power in Russia.