1999. In that time he's shaped the country

into an authoritarian and militaristic

society. He successfully invaded two of

Russia's neighbors and strengthened ties

with Syria and Iran. He's intent on pushing

back against the Western world order...

and it appears to be working.

[Vladimir Putin, 17 years in power. The most powerful man in the world]

To understand how one

man could have such a powerful influence

on his country, you need to go back to the

chaos and corruption that gripped Russia

after the fall of the Soviet Union.

When the Berlin walll fell, a 40 year old Putin was

working as an undercover spy in East

Germany for the Soviet security agency

the KGB. The Soviet Union dissolved into

15 new countries, including the new

Russian Federation. In Putin's eyes

Russia had just lost two million square

miles of territory. He later called this a

major geopolitical disaster of the

century. Lamenting that tens of millions

of his co-patriots found themselves outside

Russian territory.

The new government had to sell off nearly

45,000 public businesses like energy,

mining, and communication companies that

had been run by the communist regime. And

it was chaos. The Russian economy was in

a freefall and all these companies ended

up in the hands of a few extremely

wealthy men, known today as Russia's

oligarchs. At the same time the new

Russian state was having a hard time

establishing itself. Russia's first

president Boris Yeltsin was wildly

unpopular for cooperating with the west.

And to make matters worse he was an

alcoholic and many Russians thought he

was an embarrassment. In order to stay in

power, he leaned on the support of these

oligarchs, surrendering an immense amount

of political power to them. This graph

shows how inequality actually worsened

after the fall of the Soviet Union. This

is where Vladimir Putin enters politics.

He leaves the KGB in 1991 and becomes the

deputy mayor of St. Petersburg. Putin

uses his position to give special

treatment to friends and allies in the

private sector. He helps them structure

monopolies and regulates their

competitors, quickly becoming a favorite

among the oligarchs. Before long he's

assembled a support network of oligarchs,

crime bosses, and security officials,

mostly fellow former KGB officers like

he was. With their help he rapidly

ascends to the upper echelon of the new

Russian state. In 1999, president Boris

Yeltsin appoints Putin, still relatively

unknown in national politics, to be the

prime minister. A fierce nationalist,

Putin feared Yeltsin was letting the

US dominate Russia and that NATO, the

alliance that worked for decades to

contain Soviet influence, would expand

into the new liberated countries and

surround Russia. Putin's goal then became to

build a strong Russian state, one that

would be both stable at home and capable

of exercising more influence over its

neighbors. And he quickly got his chance...

During the post-Soviet chaos there was

escalating violence in Chechnya, a region

thatinformally seceded from Russia

in the mid-90s. Chechen war lords and

terrorists were pushing into Russian

territory and attacking the border.

In August 1999, a series of deadly bombings

killed more than 300 people in several

Russian cities, including Moscow. Putin,

the new prime minister, immediately

blames Chechen separatists for the

attack. He regularly appears in Russian

television claiming he will avenge

Russia. The population quickly rallies

around him. Putin's approval ratings jump

from 2% before the bombing to forty-five

percent after the bombings. Journalists

later uncovered evidence that suggests

Russian security services could have

been complicit in the Moscow bombings,

perhaps knowing they would spark support

for a strong man like Putin. But a closed

state investigation quickly quashed any

dissenting theories. So Russia launches a

popular and devastating war in Chechnya.

The capital city of Grozny was leveled

by Russian bombing and some estimated

close to 80 thousand people died. And in

less than a year russia successfully

brings Chechnya back under its control. In December 1999 Yeltsin

resigns making Putin the interim

president. In May, during the bloody

campaign in Chechnya, Putin wins the

presidential election. He begins to shape

the Russian state to his vision.

Patronage and corruption remain some of

his key tools, but he quickly suppresses

the oligarchs under his rule. Those that

support Putin are rewarded, those that

don't are eliminated. "Well once Russia's

richest man, imprisoned Kremlin critic

and former oil magnate, Mikhail

Khodorkovsky was sentenced to 14 years

in jail. This on a new conviction of

embezzling oil. This is effectively a

vendetta from Vladimir Putin.

for getting involved in

opposition of politics." With the oligarchy

tamed, Putin was now free to move his

vision outside of Russia's borders. At

the time relations with the US are

fairly good. Putin even vacationed at

George W. Bush's summer home. "I looked a

man in the eye I found him to be very

straightforward and trustworthy". But

things were about to change...

In August 2008, Russia invades Georgia, a

former Soviet republic. It's a display of

aggression and strength on behalf of

pro-Russian separatists there. Russia

quickly annexes two small parts of

Georgia, drawing condemnation from all

over the world. Interestingly though

Putin was not president during the

invasion. See, the Russian Constitution

says the president can only serve two

consecutive terms, but sets no limit on

the total number of terms one can serve.

So Putin took the Prime Minister role

again when his hand-picked successor

Dmitry Medvedev served as president. When

Obama is elected US president in 2008, he

attempts to reset relations with Russia.

And they make some progress. Most notably

to limit both country's nuclear arsenals.

But Putin remains paranoid about US

intentions and remains opposed to these

new relations. He's particularly bothered

by US interventions in the Middle East,

especially in Libya in 2011. He publicly

criticized Medvedev for not vetoing the action in the UN Security

Council. Putin announces his candidacy

for president and wins the 2012 election

by a preposterous margin. "Injustice

says Dmitry this outrage can't continue.

I'm here to say no to Putin". Putin starts his

third term once again amid chaos. He

doubles down on his authoritarian

governance style at home and his

militaristic strategy abroad. But in both

cases, he showcases a mastery of

information. He first took office in 2000,

Putin has kept tight leash on

Russian television. Essentially all news

outlets are state-owned propaganda

machines. His regime decides which

stories air and how, always depicting him

as the strong Russian leader. In 2012, he

cracked down on human rights and civil

liberties, making clear there was no room

for dissent in his Russia. Using state

television for example he administered a

blistering campaign against a feminist

and gay rights music group Pussy Riot.

"The latest of the loudest of such

performance for the so-called punk

prayer the Christ the Savior cathedral where

they were yelling things which were

rather profane to be yelled in Church. Of

course, three members of the punk group

Pussy Riot were convicted and sentenced to

two years in prison. Putin also

bolstered his aggressive foreign

strategy. He used traditional military

methods like sending weapons and fighter

planes to help dictator Bashar

al-Assad fight a bloody civil war in

Syria. But Putin's regime has also

developed and fostered the most

effective cyber army in the world and

he's used it to wreak havoc in the West.

These hackers have stolen classified US

information hacked politicians email

accounts, even shut down Georgia's

internet while Russian troops invaded.

And of course, they tried to sabotage

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign

in 2016. Russian hackers have also

launched propaganda campaigns in support

of right-wing candidates in Europe. With

this, Putin hopes to exploit and deepen

the political divide in Western

democracies. In 2014, the Putin vision

culminated in the targeting of Ukraine;

another former Soviet country. Ukraine's

president was opening up to the west and

Putin feared he would join NATO. So

Russian hackers launched a propaganda

campaign against him stoking protests in

the pro-Russia eastern part of the

country. He then sent in disguised Russian

troops and before long violence erupted.

In goes the Russian military and in

early 2014, Putin annexed Crimea. He

continues to support the fighting in

Ukraine and as of 2017 over 9,000 people

have died. The world erupts in protest

but Putin doesn't give in. See his

aggressive foreign policy successfully

weakens his neighbors while also

rallying Russians around him. But he has

done all this at the expense of his own

people. His invasions have prompted harsh

sanctions from the west, barring Russian

businesses from trading in Western

markets. Russian currency has plummeted in

value and the energy industry that

Russia relies on is collapsing. It's hard

to imagine Russia can continue under

these circumstances. But the election of

Donald Trump brings new hope for the

Putin vision. Trump's rhetoric has been

notably soft on Russia. He could lift

sanctions and weaken NATO, potentially

freeing up space for Putin's Russia to

become a dominant power once again.