Watch Putin’s first speech as Russian president 25yrs ago as he looks & sounds VERY different to puffy despot of today
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AS Vladimir Putin celebrates 25 years of rule over Russia, his first speech as president resurfaced showing a slew of broken promises and the emergence of a very different leader. A quarter of a century ago on New Year’s Eve, Putin was entrusted with the Kremlin for the first time.
![[Vladimir Putin giving an address to the nation on December 31, 1999]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2024/12/vladimir-putin-committed-democracy-free-960759030.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Footage from his address on December 31, 1999, shows him committing himself to "freedom" and "democracy" for Russia. Now, 25 years on, his main political foes have been killed or jailed, repression is rife, elections are rigged, and Europe is plunged into the worst conflict since WW2 with hundreds of thousands slaughtered.
![[Putin delivering his New Year Address 25 years after taking power]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2024/12/image-7-2.png?strip=all&w=603)
The despot has also managed to survive a coup attempt and widescale protests. It was on the eve of the new millennium that Putin came to power when the then-Russian president Boris Yeltsin suddenly quit. Yeltsin had saved Russia from Communist oppression, and given it the chance of a bright future.
![[Putin took to power after Boris Yeltsin abruptly resigned in 1999]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2024/12/vladimir-putin-committed-democracy-free-960759042.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
In quitting, he handed power to his little-known prime minister, former KGB spy Vladimir Putin who he knew would protect his interests. "Why cling to power for six more months when the country has a strong leader who can be its president, a man on whom nearly all Russians are pinning their hopes for the future?" Yeltsin said during his resignation.
"Why stand in his way?". Few could guess that Putin would turn into such a tyrant, having since had his leading challengers Boris Nemtsov and Alexei Navalny murdered. In 1999, the 47-year-old vowed: "Freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of the media, property rights - these fundamental elements of a civilised society will be reliably protected by the state.".
![[Vlad in 1994 when he was appointed to head the KGB]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/russian-president-boris-yeltsin-dismissed-1145666.jpg?strip=all&w=667)
