This Former Kremlin Insider Explains Why Putin Was Chosen By Yeltsin To Be President

Boris Yeltsin (L) shakes hands with Vladimir Putin (R) ©Sputnik / Sergey Zhukov

Steve Rosenberg, BBC: The man who helped make ex-KGB officer Vladimir Putin a president

Through the ages, Russian rulers have gained power in different ways.

For tsars it was by birth; Vladimir Lenin through revolution; general secretaries of the Soviet Communist Party by climbing up the party ladder to the politburo and awaiting their turn for the top job.

But 20 years ago, Vladimir Putin was handed power on a Kremlin plate. The former officer of the KGB - the Soviet security service - was handpicked by President Boris Yeltsin and his inner circle to lead Russia into the 21st Century.

But why Mr Putin?

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WNU Editor: Putin was in the right place and at the right time. And he knew the right people at the right right to aid him.