A theater director by education, Vladimir Gusinsky went into business in the mid-1980s, creating several cooperatives, a joint Soviet-American enterprise, Most, and Most-Bank. In 1992, the holding company AO Most Group was formed, uniting 42 enterprises controlled by Gusinsky. In 1993, Gusinsky decided to get involved in the media: Most-Bank first became the owner of one of the first independent newspapers, Segodnya, and then of a new, private and independent television channel, NTV, which initially produced only news programs, “renting” part of the airtime from other channels. In the fall of 1996, after the presidential elections, in which Gusinsky, along with other oligarchs, supported Yeltsin, NTV received the entire fourth channel. In January 1997, Gusinsky decided to focus on his media assets, heading the holding company ZAO Media-Most, which included NTV, TNT, a number of newspapers and magazines, and the radio station Ekho Moskvy. In 2000, he was arrested and accused of embezzlement of state property, but was released in exchange for agreeing to sell NTV to Gazprom, after which he left Russia. He refused to fulfill the terms of the agreement, after which he was accused of fraud and put on the international wanted list. The Spanish authorities, who detained him in 2001 on this basis, refused to extradite Gusinsky to Russia after the trial. In the 2000s, he was involved in other media projects in Russia (RTVi, website Newsru.com), Ukraine (TVI), and Israel (newspaper Maariv, website Newsru.co.il). Why did successful banker Gusinsky need to get involved in the media? Did the Kremlin help create NTV? Where did Malashenko come from and what kind of person was he? Did Gusinsky influence the content of the broadcasts? What principles were used to cover the first Chechen war on NTV? Was there any pressure from the Kremlin? What caused the conflict with Alexander Korzhakov in 1994-1995 and what does Yuri Luzhkov have to do with it? Did he have presidential ambitions? Why did business and Gusinsky in particular support Yeltsin in the 1996 elections? How were sworn enemies Gusinsky and Berezovsky able to join forces for this? By the way, who was Berezovsky and what caused the feud? Was it worth fighting the communists like that back then? Did the presidential headquarters deceive other candidates - Yavlinsky and Lebed? Is it true that NTV received hundreds of millions of dollars for the campaign? What happened with the "Xerox box" and how was this crisis resolved? What was the story of the privatization of Svyazinvest? What role did the head of the presidential administration Yumashev play in it? Why did Berezovsky join Gusinsky's campaign against Chubais and other "young reformers"? What was the "writers' case" about — was it a bribery case? Why were Chubais and Nemtsov actually dismissed? And Chernomyrdin? Was the "Mabetex" case and the scandal with Prosecutor General Yuri Skuratov an accident — or was it all a provocation by the secret services? Is it true that Putin won Yeltsin's trust with the loyalty he showed during this particular operation? What is "family"? How did Gusinsky feel about the Luzhkov-Primakov tandem and the Fatherland bloc in 1999? Does Gusinsky believe in the FSB's involvement in the apartment bombings in the fall of 1999? How will Yeltsin go down in Russian history? Vladimir Gusinsky answers these and other questions in an interview we conducted with him on July 21, 2021. 0:00 Why banker Gusinsky decided to go into television and how NTV began 16:31 NTV coverage of the first Chechen war 23:11 Conflict with Korzhakov and friendship with Luzhkov 40:00 Media as a conduit for public interest 45:37 About Berezovsky 53:20 The beginning of the 1996 presidential campaign 1:10:07 Why did Yeltsin decide not to postpone the elections? 1:18:08 The role of NTV in the 1996 campaign 1:23:19 Why did business support Yeltsin in the elections 1:35:29 Yeltsin's victory at any cost - was it the right decision? 1:42:41 Campaign financing and the "Xerox box" 1:52:33 About Alexander Lebed 1:57:48 Were the 1996 elections fair? 2:02:36 On the sale of Svyazinvest 2:22:55 Gusinsky and Berezovsky's "war" against the "young reformers" and the "writers' case" 2:47:57 On Chernomyrdin and his resignation 2:49:28 On the scandal with Mabetex and Yuri Skuratov 2:54:17 On the "family" 2:58:46 On the tandem of Luzhkov and Primakov in 1999 3:07:56 On the apartment building explosions in the fall of 1999 and the second Chechen war 3:14:03 On the significance of the 90s and Yeltsin's role in history 3:18:17 On Valentin Yumashev 3:19:58 On Viktor Chernomyrdin 3:21:22 On Mikhail Gorbachev 3:22:20 About Barsukov, Abramovich, Khodorkovsky, Potanin, Ernst Website of the project "The Unfinished Time": https://theunfinishedtime.com/ Film "The Unfinished Time": • The Unfinished Time.