So I watched a great BBC documentary on the 90s, 'Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone',

In it, Viktor Chernomyrdin is described:

The corruption in Russia had now reached the heart of government. Viktor Chernomyrdin ran Gazprom. It owed a third supply of the world's gas. Yeltsin made him prime minister to force the privatisation programme through. Chernomyrdin sold Gazprom to himself and his friends for a thousandth of the real value. He then looted and smuggled the money out of the country. Yeltsin began to drink more and more. His bodyguard said that he spent evenings staring at the wall, saying - "They are stealing Russia"

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But when I go to find more about this guy, the first hit on google is his obituary in the Guardian newspaper that says:

Chernomyrdin managed to bridge the gap between the old Soviet industrial nomenklatura and the radical young neo-liberals who swept Russia into the era of unregulated market reforms...As prime minister in a system with a powerful president, Chernomyrdin was the Kremlin's safe pair of hands. The Americans recognised this, and during Bill Clinton's presidency the US vice-president, Al Gore, represented Washington on the specially created Gore-Chernomyrdin committee, which met regularly to put flesh on numerous agreements....In 1995 Chernomyrdin played a major role in ending the first Chechen war when he negotiated a deal to resolve the hostage crisis in Budyonnovsk.

In Britannica it says that :

He cultivated improved relations with the fractious Congress and brought inflation under control while Anatoly Chubais and other reformers in the Cabinet oversaw the privatization of the industrial and commercial sectors of the economy

And of course, Radio Free Europe wrote upon his death that:

Chernomyrdin will be remembered as the longest-serving prime minister in post-Soviet Russia, a seasoned politician who helped steer his country though some of its most troubled times following the collapse of the Soviet Union."Viktor Stepanovich was undoubtedly a very significant political figure and a true Russian patriot," Putin said in televised comments. "He did a lot for Russia's statehood, its economic and social development, and for strengthening its positions in the world."

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I had never heard anything about this guy until I watched the documentary - but my quick googling has left me completely confused.

Is the documentary at fault? Why have I only managed to find positive accounts of this man online from basically the first 10 hits online. I could have copy-pasted from far more sites (such as the telegraph) but thought that this question was already too long. Seems like he also had quite a high-level career in the Russian state right up until his death

Apparently it was rumoured that he had a shot at being the next president after Yeltsin? How do you think that ywould have gone?

Anyway, I managed to find a playlist on youtube with the documentary though it is missing the final episode. It is mainly old BBC stock footage from the Soviet Union, following the lives of ordinary individuals

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGDByvdY5CHX_BTvG2X4vPrQfgqlSwSy5

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