NARRATOR: Even as his star rose, there was an early example of his ambition.
He commissioned a documentary about himself.
It was called Power, made by Igor Shadkhan.
IGOR SHADKHAN, Documentary Filmmaker: [through interpreter] Putin had an agenda.
He wanted to admit that he had been a KGB agent in foreign reconnaissance.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: [Shadkhan film] [subtitles] After university, I got an offer to work for
the Committee for State Security.
NARRATOR: For Putin, it was an effective way to out himself as a former member of the reviled
KGB.
But for Mayor Sobchak, Putin’s past would prove useful.
After all, he was running a city with a notorious criminal history, and according to prominent
political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky, he needed someone who could work in its shadows.
STANISLAV BELKOVSKY, National Strategy Institute, Moscow: St. Petersburg called the bandit capital
of Russia, gangster capital of Russia, at that moment.
And the mayor’s office should communicate to those groupings some way.
But of course, Anatoly Sobchak could not be involved in such contacts, and it was Vladimir
Putin who was in charge.
IGOR SHADKHAN: [through interpreter] When I arrived for the shoot, his entire lobby
was full of foreigners.
These included Finnish, Germans, and there was some agreement they were all coming to.
Now, the agreement for the most part was about food aid for St. Petersburg.
NARRATOR: Putin had his work cut out for him.
The collapse of the Soviet Union brought terrible food shortages to St. Petersburg.
The agricultural system was in chaos, and there was little foreign currency to buy food
from abroad.
To fill the shelves, a program was devised.
Companies would be allocated raw materials, like oil and minerals, to be sold abroad,
and the money was then used to buy food.
In his film, the deputy mayor assured hungry residents food was on its way.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: [subtitles] Butter, 2,000 tons.
Dry milk, 2,000 tons.
So this, in fact, covers our needs.
This is very impressive, I’ll be honest with you.
NARRATOR: The trouble was, most of the promised food never arrived.
Despair turned to anger, and then protests.
A city councilor named Marina Salye was charged with investigating what had happened.
Salye would eventually leave politics disillusioned and retreat to the countryside.
But she kept all her documents.
She says they show what went wrong in St. Petersburg in the ‘90s and who she believes
was to blame.
MARINA SALYE: [through interpreter] So without going into all the details, I’ll tell you
from this document, signed by Putin, all $124 million disappeared without a trace, without
a trace, because from this list of materials that I have listed, not a single gram of food
came.
KAREN DAWISHA: And what happened was fly-by-night companies were set up.
Many of his friends, who are still around today, were behind those companies.
The goods went out, and incomplete or no shipment came back.
So millions, millions were made just in that episode alone.
NARRATOR: In the end, the St. Petersburg city council approved Salye’s recommendation
to turn the case over to the prosecutors.
MARINA SALYE: [reading] [through interpreter] “We concluded that Putin and his assistant
should be fired.”
NARRATOR: Mrs. Sobchak dismisses the investigation as a political vendetta against her husband.
LYUDMILA NARUSOVA, Sobchak’s Widow: [through interpreter] I understand that all of the
“investigations,” quote, unquote, that were being undertaken by the deputies were
complete rubbish.
It was just a way to somehow influence my husband to get rid of Putin.
NARRATOR: But Sobchak protected his deputy.
The case of the missing food would never be prosecuted.
And Putin would deny the charges and blamed the companies and other bureaucrats.