Moscow
\nRussian President Vladimir Putin has said the collapse of the Soviet Union spelled the end of \u201chistorical Russia,\u201d revealing he drove a taxi to make ends meet following the USSR\u2019s fall.
\nPutin, a former agent of the Soviet Union\u2019s KGB security services, who has previously lamented the USSR\u2019s fall, said the disintegration three decades ago remains a \u201ctragedy\u201d for \u201cmost citizens\u201d.
\nThe comments, reported by state-run news agency RIA Novosti on Sunday, were excerpts from an upcoming film by broadcaster Channel One, dubbed \u201cRussia Recent History\u201d.
\n\u201cAfter all, what is the collapse of the Soviet Union? This is the collapse of historical Russia under the name of the Soviet Union,\u201d the Russian leader was cited as saying.
\nA loyal servant of the Soviet Union, Putin was dismayed when it fell apart, once calling the collapse \u201cthe greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century\u201d.
\nPutin is sensitive to the perceived expansion of Western military ambitions into ex-Soviet countries and Russia this week demanded that Nato formally scrap a 2008 decision to open its door to Georgia and Ukraine. The end of the Union brought with it a period of intense economic instability that plunged many into poverty, as newly independent Russia transitioned from communism to capitalism.
\nRIA-Novosti, reporting from excerpts of the documentary, said Putin had revealed that he worked occasionally as a taxi driver to boost his income. \u201cSometimes I had to earn extra money,\u201d Putin said.
\n\u201cI mean, earn extra money by car, as a private driver. It\u2019s unpleasant to talk about to be honest but, unfortunately, that was the case.\u201d Russia was the centre of the Soviet Union that grew to include 15 republics from the Baltics in the West to Central Asia.
\nIn 1991, wracked by economic woes the Soviet Union disintegrated and Russia became an independent nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Moscow Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the collapse of the Soviet Union spelled the end of \u201chistorical Russia,\u201d revealing he drove a taxi to make ends meet following the USSR\u2019s fall. Putin, a former agent of the Soviet Union\u2019s KGB security services, who has previously lamented the USSR\u2019s fall, said the disintegration three decades […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-232732","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n