About Russia's transformation from communism to a market economy was coming to an end with disaster. Out of the ashes rose a powerful president who rules his country with an iron fist. How did it happen? SVT's former correspondent Peter Löfgren tells what happened when a bunch of young capitalists from the West were invited to reform Russia. Some became immensely rich while the majority continued to live in misery. The attempt failed and the road to power was soon open to a new type of leader. His name: Vladimir Putin.—Ulf Kjell Gür