Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke of his grief at the end of the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1991, revealing that he had to work as a taxi driver to supplement his income.
The economic problems unleashed by the collapse forced many Russians to look for new ways to make money.
Putin described the event as the “collapse of historic Russia”.
The Russian president’s statements could fuel speculation about his intentions towards Ukraine, a former Soviet republic.
Russia has assembled more than 90,000 troops on its border with Ukraine and there are fears it is planning to invade the neighboring country.
The Russian government denies it, accusing Ukraine of provocation and seeking guarantees against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) expansion to the east.
Putin’s speech is in a documentary called “Russia, Latest History” which aired on Sunday (12).
“It was a historic disintegration of Russia under the name of the Soviet Union,” he said, adding that in the West it was believed that the further disintegration of Russia was just a matter of time.
It is well known that Putin sees the collapse as a tragedy, but his remarks about his personal difficulties at the time are new.
“Sometimes I needed to earn extra money,” he said. “I mean, earning extra money from a car, as a private driver. It’s unpleasant to talk about it, but unfortunately that was the case.”
At the time, taxis were a rarity in Russia, and many individuals gave a lift to strangers to help pay the bills. Some even used work vehicles, such as ambulances, for this.
Putin is known to be a former agent of the Soviet security service, the KGB.
However, in the early 1990s, he worked in the office of St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. Putin says he left the KGB after the August 1991 coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, which led to the dissolution of the USSR.
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