Vladimir Putin said he resorted to working as taxi driver after USSR collapse

Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said he resorted to working as a taxi driver after the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.

During a teaser for the upcoming film "Russia. Recent History." Putin said that he was financially struggling and forced to earn money as a driver.

"Sometimes I had to make extra money as a driver. It's not pleasant to talk about it, but unfortunately, that was the case," Putin said, according to CBS News. "After all, what is the collapse of the Soviet Union? This is the collapse of historical Russia under the name of the Soviet Union."

Putin has likened the fall of the USSR -- during which 15 republics broke into independent states -- as the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century.

During that time, hyperinflation and defaulting on debt led to those in prestigious occupations becoming street vendors or taxi drivers to earn an income. The difficult economic period became a part of Russian history and was a major humanitarian crisis, Putin said.

Those fortunate enough to own vehicles often offered rides in exchange for money as "bombila."

Putin was a KGB agent in East Germany who returned to Russia in the 1990s to work for the ex-mayor of St. Petersburg. Putin quickly climbed the political ladder thereafter.

He said in a 2018 documentary that he'd considered working as a taxi driver, but in this new film, he claims that he actually did.