Moscow (CNN)On August 9, 1999, Russian history changed forever. Then-President Boris Yeltsin named Vladimir Putin, his former head of domestic intelligence, as acting prime minister.
It seemed likely to be a short-lived appointment. Putin’s predecessor had lasted only a few months in the job, and Yeltsin had seen three other prime ministers come and go following the financial crash of August 1998.
At the time, Putin possessed none of the aura of a world leader. Before joining the Yeltsin administration, he had a largely behind-the-scenes career as an adviser to St. Petersburg’s mayor, Anatoly Sobchak. He then moved to Moscow to work for the Presidential Property Management Department, an unlikely springboard to national office.
