a progression of economic crisis were exacerbated by ronald reagan s determination to outspin the russians in defense and bring the ussr to its knees. mr. gorbachev, teardown this wall. the soviets and the kgb was reeling under a tremendous strain and pressure from the west. the soviet president s attempts of the economy were emboldening people from behind the iron curtain to demand more liberty. for several years putin watched from a distance in dresden. the great break through in terms of liberty is something he mentions. my wife and i saw this on television but we weren t there when it happened. but after the berlin wall collapsed in november 1989, putin soon came face-to-face with changes sweeping the soviet bloc. the following month he was inside dresden s kgb
defining story for vladimir putin. by the end of 1990 putin, his wife and two daughters returned to leningrad, his international spy career had fallen far short of his hopes. and the following year he resigned from the kgb. he was 38 years old. just four months later the fate of the soviet union was revealed to the world. on christmas day, 1991 president mi mickhail gorbachev appeared on state tv. the flag of the russian republic went up. the one word that sums up the collective feeling of people like putin devoted to the soviet state, humiliation. he was then at a loss for figuring out how he is going to then make his mark on the world. coming up