Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, has revealed that he moonlighted as a taxi driver during the collapse of the Soviet Union, to supplement his income.
Putin was speaking in a new documentary which was released on Sunday.
Putin, a former officer of the KGB, the Soviet security agency, was working for the Mayor of St Petersburg when the Soviet Union began to disintegrate in the early 1990s.
At the time taxis were not common and many people used their private vehicles to transport people for a fee. Reportedly people were even using their private vehicles as ambulances in the same period.
Putin was quoted as saying: ‘Sometimes I had to earn extra money. I mean, earn extra money by car, as a private driver. It’s unpleasant to talk about to be honest, but unfortunately that was the case.’
Putin has previously expressed his regret at the fall of the communist superpower but he has reiterated those claims in the new film. These latest comments by Putin may be considered significant by Moscow watchers, as Russia builds up troops on its border with Ukraine, with some believing an invasion of the former Soviet republic is imminent.