Ex-oligarch: Putin promised to rule just two years

Vladimir Putin told oligarchs who helped him first get elected that he was “ready to be president for two years maximum” according to a former Russian billionaire businessman once close to the Russian premier.

Sergei Pugachev told the BBC's HARDtalk programme that “the agreement at the time” was Putin would then let someone else stand and get elected.

Speaking to Stephen Sackur in France where he now lives having renounced his Russian citizenship, Mr Pugachev said nobody in 1999 thought of Putin as the person “who could build a new Russia”.

The goal instead was to stop the communists gaining power, claimed Mr Pugachev who was instrumental in Mr Putin’s campaign to become president. 'It was a question of whether democracy would be able to survive in Russia or not. There was no choice. You couldn't say if it’s not Putin then perhaps it will be somebody else. We only had one option." Since leaving the country, the Russian state has pursued Mr Pugachev through the courts, accusing him of massive financial crimes, which he denies.

Asked whether he and the other oligarchs whom he says struck the deal with Putin ultimately underestimated the Russian president, Mr Pugachev replied: “We couldn't imagine what was going to happen in 2023”.
He said the Russian people are responsible for their political situation. “It wasn't Putin who built the Russia we see today. Russia made Putin the way he is today'” Mr Pugachev said. “I saw this happen with my own eyes. This is very important to understand.”