Kremlin insiders like to tell the following story. In the fall of 1999, when Vladimir Putin was tapped to succeed Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s future president blurted out in surprise: “Oh, and I thought of Gazprom.” What else could a working-class Leningrad native dream about?
Putin had never seen himself in high politics. He had adapted well to the new market economy of the chaotic 1990s, thriving in the gangster-land of St. Petersburg, where he found his place at the junction of public service and a largely criminal business sector.
But after Putin’s boss, St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, lost his re-election bid, the former KGB-FSB officer had to seek lucrative positions elsewhere. Through either personal or corporate connections, he managed to relocate to the capital, setting in motion the series of political appointments that would bring him to the Kremlin.