A second war in Chechnya made Vladimir Putin, transforming him from anonymous apparatchik supported by just 2 per cent of Russians into an immensely popular president. It allowed him to renegotiate the state's social contract with the people as the media, oligarchs, regional governments and political opposition were brought under the Kremlin's sway in return for the promise of stability. Chechnya convinced Putin and his allies that war could solve political problems. It taught them the power of nationalist mobilization and demonstrated the capacity of military force to reassert Russia's lost authority and re-establish a sense of pride. It reaffirmed the Russian military's belief in the offensive value of overwhelming and indiscriminate firepower. But whilst the rallying around the flag – and the president – was real enough, some effects were mere mirages. Victory in Chechnya was not as decisive as it seemed. Nor was it achieved by Russian military prowess alone. It was Chechnya's Kadyrov clan that finally won the Chechen war, not the Russian army. Chechnya today may be firmly a part of the Russian Federation but it is Ramzan Kadyrov's word that is law there. His is an autonomous Chechen regime – the sort of thing the separatists wanted – propped up by eye-watering amounts of Russian money.

Operation successor

Vladimir Putin left Dresden at the beginning of 1990, apparently gifted an old washing machine by East Germans grateful for his service. Still on the KGB's books as a member of the active reserve, he returned to Leningrad's university where he renewed his friendship with his old professor, Anatoly Sobchak. The city he returned to was very different to the dormant but safe one he had left a few years before. It wasn't just that its name had reverted back to Saint Petersburg. Gorbachev's reforms had brought freedom and a lawless capitalism. Many of the city's first entrepreneurs were violent criminals. As the economy crashed, food became a prized commodity. Hunger was common. Into the void strode criminal gangs, peddling the essentials of life as well as drugs, alcohol, corruption, prostitution and violence. The old Soviet command system was dead but there weren't yet any laws or institutions to govern the new capitalist system. As the weapons of the Red Army followed demobilized soldiers into the marketplace, AK-47s were readily available from car-boots and street stalls.