Primakov, the Russian Prime Minister, was trying to dismiss Putin's FSB in the 1990s, but was stopped by Boris Yeltsin.

Vladimir Putin was the head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) during September 1998 to May 1999. This is considered a launching pad to help Putin advance when he quickly held important positions in the Russian government, but his career was almost ruined during this period.

"The then Russian Prime Minister, Yevgeny Primakov, twice tried to sack Putin from the position of FSB director. Very few people know about this," said Valentin Yumashev, former president of the Russian Presidential Office under Boris Yeltsin, yesterday. revealed in an interview with journalist Vladimir Pozner.

Prime Minister Primakov was famous in the West for ordering the plane to return to Russia while on the Atlantic and cancel a state visit to the United States to protest the NATO campaign against Yugoslavia in March 1999. . He is considered to be Boris Yeltsin's successor and at times became Putin's main rival in the Russian presidential race.

"Putin's life could be very different if Primakov was successful," Yumashev added.

However, Yumashev said Yeltsin prevented Primakov from firing Putin, though he did not disclose further details. "Former President Yeltsin said that Primakov was a bit too authoritarian and not suitable for Russia's leadership role," the former president of the President's Office added.

On August 9, 1999, President Yeltsin decided to choose Putin as the new Prime Minister of Russia. When Yeltsin announced his resignation on December 31, 1999, he appointed Putin as acting president. In the early election with 11 candidates later, Putin won and began the path of leading Russia to a strong transformation.

Yumashev also talked about several phone calls with Putin in the fall of 1998, when the FSB director asked the Kremlin official to urgently report Primakov wanted the agency to spy on Grigory Yavlinsky, the opposition leader of the Yabloko Party.

Putin expressed opposition to Primakov's request, announcing he would resign if President Yeltsin agreed to spy on political opponents. Yumashev reassured FSB director Putin and affirmed Yeltsin also disagreed with the action.

Primakov later withdrew from the race to become an ally and one of Putin's most trusted advisers. He died in 2015 at the age of 85.

Putin described Primakov as a "great personality" in his speech at the launch of a monument to him at the Russian Foreign Ministry headquarters in early November.