Formerly a low-level special agent stationed in East Germany prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Vladimir Putin returned to Russia after the Berlin Wall came down and followed his mentor into politics, where he was promoted to Prime Minister by Boris Yeltsin, the President of the Russian Federation at that time, before finally becoming the President in 2000. Experiences like witnessing the turmoil brought about by populism and the power vacuum in Moscow towards the end laid the foundation for Putin’s ruling policy later in Russia. He took back government power from the media, canceled elections for local governments, and replaced them with central government appointees. Despite the original shared power system practiced in Russia, Putin actually holds both the authority of the President and the Prime Minister.