Rare private video of Putin from 1990s released yesterday
The video was shot at a corporate hospitality villa owned by the Thomesto companies, which had business links to Russia. The getaway was on the island of Torsö in Raseborg, about 100 km west of Helsinki on Finland’s south coast. In 1991.
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The Finnish Thomesto conglomerate imported raw wood material from Russia during this time, and therefore connections to key decision-makers on the eastern side of the border were vital to its operations.
These were especially chaotic years for Finland’s eastern neighbour. The Soviet Union collapsed in December 1991, and its successor, Russia, stumbled clumsily from communism toward capitalism.
In 1991, Leningrads name was changed to St Petersburg, and Anatoly Sobchak became mayor with Putin as his right-hand man. As head of the mayoral office’s Committee for External Relations, Putin was responsible for the city’s ties with the outside world.
However, the political pair found time to travel stealthily to Finland along with their families – and play ping-pong.