Vladimir Putin's first term in office from 2000 onwards formed the blueprint for how he still does politics today. Win the election, control the economy, continue to wage war.
Russia is waging war against Ukraine today to secure its ports on the Black and Caspian Seas. From the largely unknown politician to the man who brought the war back to Europe, the four-part podcast series tells of Putin's rise to power from 1999 to 2014. The foreign podcast Eight Billion appears every Friday on SPIEGEL.de and everywhere there are podcasts.