After his retirement he became a private body guard of Yeltsin, albeit officially worked as the Chief of Security of a co-operative named "Plastic".

He was regarded as one of the hard-liners of Yeltsin's team, a strong backer of the war in Chechnya, and an opponent to holding the presidential election in 1996.

During Korzhakov's reign, it is believed that the Presidential Security Service acquired documents which implicated first deputy prime minister Anatoly Chubais in illegal financial transactions during the privatization period that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.

On 19 June 1996 Sergey Lisovsky (a wealthy advertising and showbusiness magnate) and Arkady Yevstafyev (a close aide to former first deputy prime minister Anatoly Chubais) were arrested while leaving the White House of Russia, allegedly carrying a case containing 500 thousand dollars.

Tipped off by Chubais, television networks started to broadcast updates on the unfolding scandal through the night, portraying the arrests as a coup attempt by Korzhakov.

Referring to documents never published before, Korzhakov asserts that Yeltsin had even planned to use chemical gases in order to "smoke" the deputies from the building.

In regards to the presidential election in 1996, as well as in 1993, Yeltsin had – according to Korzhakov – no intention of leaving the Kremlin and was prepared to take any actions to insure his continued stay.

According to Korzhakov, in the summer of 1996, Yeltsin and his prime minister, Victor Chernomyrdin debated the very serious possibility of canceling the presidential election.

Korzhakov adds several significant details which possibly confirm the view that the Kremlin violated many democratic rules during the presidential election campaign in 1996.

Democratic institutions such as the Parliament and the courts played an extremely limited role in the life of the Kremlin and had no influence over the decision-making process.

Alexander Litvinenko – a former KGB/FSB Officer who changed sides in early-mid 2000s in his book "Blowing Up Russia" blames Korzhakov (along with Barsukov): only "their greed for money" was the reason of the first and partly the second chechen war.

In the book, Korzhakov confessed that he and the FSB chief Mikhail Barsukov, another member of Yeltsin's guard, "governed the country for three years".

Korzhakov describes the atmosphere surrounding Yeltsin as thick with unbridled favoritism, a fertile ground for intrigues among those struggling for the president's ear.