lieutenant colonel andrey zykov has watched that climb to power. a former police investigator who once wanted to arrest putin, he says his rise has come at great cost. >> (speaking russian) >> (translated): well, of course there has always been corruption in russia, but building it into such a meticulous system was something only mr. putin has managed to do. could putin be held criminally responsible based on the evidence that has already been gathered? absolutely, yes. >> narrator: in 2010, zykov laid out evidence he had gathered from an investigation of putin's early years in city government in st. petersburg. he posted it on youtube. mysteriously, there have been efforts to delete it from the web, but not before it was downloaded by russia expert and author karen dawisha. >> and in its essence, what did that series that he posted, what was the summation of it? >> the summation of it was a detailed account of the criminal activities that he feels putin was involved in: abuse of power, abuse of his official position, involvement in relations with