SPIEGEL foreign podcast Eight Billion tells of Vladimir Putin's rise to power from 1999 to 2014. Russia expert Christian Neef tells how Putin came to power by chance and then shaped the country according to his ideas and fears.
The first episode of the podcast series tells of 'Operation Successor': How Yeltsin and his clan create an artificial party that is supposed to win the Duma election for Putin. How they installed the current Defense Minister and then popular hero Sergei Shoigu as party leader so that Putin would not suffer political damage.