Vladimir Putin And The Missing Cocaine Mystery

It was the biggest cocaine haul in Russian history. Putin’s close associate, Viktor Cherkesov, oversaw the investigation. And then the cocaine disappeared, seemingly without a trace. A convicted Israeli smuggler suggested in an exclusive interview with RFE/RL that the drug bust ended up as one of Putin’s early sources of wealth. The cocaine scandal belongs to an era of Putin’s early reign that is relatively unknown to many. In 1992, Putin, then an unremarkable 39-year-old ex-KGB officer, found himself leading a municipal committee in his native St. Petersburg. Putin and his associates featured in various corruption scandals that frequently swirled around the committee. His committee men later went on to become key allies of the president and occupy influential government posts. This is the first story in a new series by @currenttime & @Радио Свобода that examines the beginnings of Vladimir Putin’s political career, marred by corruption scandals and scams even before it to