The Rise Of Putin: Becoming President

The Rest Is Classified

Goalhanger

History

4.6 • 732 Ratings

🗓️ 28 November 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

*Declassified Club exclusive: ⁠⁠⁠SUBSCRIBE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to listen to the full series* Vladimir Putin is on the cusp of becoming Russia's all-powerful leader, but how did a humble boy from St Petersburg reach such elite heights? Listen as David and Gordon are once again joined by one of the world's leading experts on Russian organised crime, Mark Galeotti, to conclude their series on the rise of Putin. ------------------- THE REST IS CLASSIFIED LIVE 2026: Buy your tickets to see David and Gordon live on stage at London’s Southbank Centre on 31 January: ⁠https://www.livenation.co.uk/the-rest-is-classified-live-tickets-adp1627115⁠ ------------------- Join The Declassified Club: Start your free trial at ⁠⁠therestisclassified.com⁠⁠ - go deeper into the world of espionage with exclusive Q&As, interviews with top intelligence insiders, quarterly livestreams, ad-free listening, early access to episodes and live show tickets, and weekly deep dives into original spy stories. Members also get curated reading lists, special book discounts, prize draws, and access to our private chat community. To sign up to the free newsletter, go to: ⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/goalhanger.com/tric-free-newsletter-sign-up⁠ ⁠ ------------------- Email: [email protected] Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@triclassified⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Social Producer: Emma Jackson Producer: Becki Hills Head of History: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	For exclusive interviews, bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to series,
0:09.0	first look at live show tickets, a weekly newsletter, and discounted books,
0:13.1	join the Declassified Club at the rest is classified.com.
0:17.3	Music Welcome club members secret squirrels.
0:27.6	We discovered that it really is called a scurry of squirrels, which I hadn't realized
0:32.1	was the collective noun for squirrels, but that is what they are.
0:35.6	Shame on you, Gordon.
0:36.6	Shame on you. Now I know.
0:38.3	Add that to your nut file, Gordon, on top of your many other crimes.
0:41.3	Yes.
0:42.3	Welcome, whatever you want to be called, to the last of our three-part miniseries exclusively for club members looking at the rise of Vladimir Putin and his time from the KGB up to becoming
0:57.3	leader of Russia. In parallel, of course, to our series on Evgeny Progogsin, Putin's chef,
1:03.6	caterer, Mercery Warlord. We're kind of really focusing on that period, particularly in the 1990s,
1:10.6	when these different forces
1:11.8	come together. And again, we have our very special guest with us, Mark Galiotti. And we left,
1:17.9	didn't we, with Putin in St. Petersburg, in this murky world of organized crime and
1:25.7	government, didn't we? Which I guess begs the question, doesn't it, David?
1:29.6	What happens next?
1:31.1	Yes, and it is, I think, even after having, you know, over the years read many histories
1:38.4	of Vladimir Putin's rise in the 1990s, it is still, as we say, it kind of astounding to think that the deputy mayor of
1:48.0	St. Petersburg, this guy who had just come out of the KGB within a few short years' time, will be
1:54.9	running essentially the successor to the KGBB and then eventually become the president of Russia.
	...

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