The Most Powerful Man In The World
Russia is the largest country in the world by surface area, covering more than 1/8th of the Earth's inhabited land area. It is the 9th most populous country with over 146 million people. And It is the birth place of a great leader named Vladimir Putin, the most powerful man in the world.
Early life:
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| Little Putin; Source: yogawithamey.com |
In his official biography, the Russian President revealed that he used to spend his leisure time hunting rats on the stairwell.
Putin was the third child of his parents. Both of his brothers died before he was born.
Sambo & Judo:
At an early age Putin started training in ‘Sambo’ (a Soviet martial art). He also participated and won several competitions in both Sambo and Judo in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg).
In November, 2012 the International Judo Federation granted him a high-ranking 8th Dan, one of the highest grades in Judo.
Again in 2013 on his visit to South Korea, the Russian leader was awarded grandmaster rank in taekwondo (a form of martial art popular in Korea) and was honored with a 9th-degree black belt from the president of the World Taekwondo Federation, which puts him a step above Chuck Norris.
KGB (Soviet security agency):
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| KGB agent Putin; Source: kremlin.ru |
For a period of 16 years Putin worked as an officer in the KGB spying in East Germany from 1975 to 1991. Putin's primary job was to recruit foreigners in Dresden for sending them as undercover agents to the USA.
During the fall of Berlin Wall in 1989, Putin had to burn KGB files as a mob tried to enter the agency's headquarters in Dresden. He moved back to Russia in 1991 and left the agency with the rank of lieutenant colonel. And then he started his political career.
In politics, Putin decided to choose against communism.
Political Career:
Vladimir Putin has been ruling Russia since 1999. Within this time he enjoyed the premiership twice and he is in his third term of presidency.
After coming to the power first thing he did was bringing back the old Soviet Anthem with slightly modified lyrics.
In 1991, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, President Boris Yeltsin renamed cities, plazas, avenues and pulled down all Soviet-era monuments. In 1993 he confirmed the lyric-free 'Patrioticheskaya Pesnya', composed by Mikhail Glinka, as the new national anthem of Russian Federation. But this anthem proved to be unpopular with the Russian public, because of its tune and lack of lyrics.
In 2000, soon after Putin took the office, the federal legislature established and approved the music of the anthem of the Soviet Union, with newly written lyrics as the new anthem of Russia. It was named 'The Hymn of the Russian Federation'.
The original song was 'The Hymn of the Soviet Union', the music of which was written by Alexander Alexandrov and the lyrics by G. G. El-Registan.
It was first adopted on March 15 in 1944, during Joseph Stalin's dictatorship.
Once putin came into power the country started to grow economically. During his first term of presidency, the Russian economy grew for 8 straight years, and GDP (measured in purchasing power) increased by 72%.
Putin is challenging the European Union as well as the United States in major conflicts of war in the middle east and in eastern Europe from the beginning. In Ukraine he has annexed the Crimean Peninsula and in Syria he is supporting the government lead by Bashar al-Assad.
Putin has enjoyed high domestic approval ratings during his career, and received special international attention as one of the world's most powerful leaders. U.S. intelligence agencies have accused him of launching an influence campaign against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election of the United States of America.
At the end of every year Forbes magazine publishes a list of the world's most Powerful People. Vladimir Putin has been leading the list since the year 2013.
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Family:
In 2013, Putin announced that he was divorcing his wife Lyudmila, which was a great surprise to many because few actually knew that he was a married person. She was his wife of almost 30 years.
Putin has also two daughters with his former wife Lyudmilia, Yekaterina and Mariya. He has kept their existence almost completely secret.
Putin's Grandfather:
Putin’s grandfather, Spiridon Ivanovich Putin, was a cook for former Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin at his country house. After Lenin's death, he was transferred to one of Joseph Stalin 's dachas. He worked there for a long time.
Religious Belief:
Putin is a devoted Orthodox Christian and he strictly holds to the traditional values of the Orthodox Church. He believes that same-sex marriage is equal to Satan-worshipping.
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Music:
In 2010, Putin shocked the world with his musical skills for a charity event in St. Petersburg. He went to a piano and began to skillfully play. Then he took the microphone and sang the song 'Blueberry Hill'. Famous faces like Kevin Costner (actor), Gerard Depardieu (actor) and Sharon Stone(actress) were also present at that event.
A Pilot:
Vladimir Putin is a licensed pilot and once helped to put out a forest wildfire in the Russian countryside by co-piloting an aircraft.
[N.B: He is also the hero in an online comic series called 'SuperPutin']
Animal Lover:
Putin is a genuine animal lover.
There are hundreds of photographs of Putin spending time with animals from pet dogs to tigers and polar bears. But he loves Dogs more than other animals.
Putin has several pet dogs. One of them is a female black Labrador Retriever named Koni. In January 2007 it was alleged that Putin brought Koni for a diplomatic meeting with the German chancellor Angela Merkel, knowing very well that she is afraid of dogs, in order to intimidate her.
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Wine Controversy:
On September, 2015 Putin drank a 240-year-old bottle of Spanish wine during a visit to what is claimed to be the biggest wine collection in the world at the Massandra winery in Crimea with former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Before the annexation of the area by Russia in March 2014, the winery was owned and by the Ukrainian government. It houses a number of rare, centuries-old bottles of wine and sherry.
Winery was first started in Crimea by Prince Lev Golitsyn in 1894. Since then it’s wines have been celebrated all over the Soviet Union (Russia). The Massandra wine cellars hold about 500,000 bottles, including five bottles of the 1775 ‘Jeres de la Frontera’.
Putin and his longtime friend Berlusconi tried one of the bottles of 1775 ‘Jeres de la Frontera’ that was brought to Crimea by Count Mikhail Vorontsov, during the reign of Catherine the Great.
Director Yanina Pavlenko uncorked the bottle there for Putin and Berlusconi.
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The prosecutor general of the former Crimean government, (has been operating in exile since Russia annexed the area) opened a criminal case for large scale theft over the incident. He estimated a loss of two million hryvnia (about $78,846).
Height:
Putin is known to be 5'7'' tall. But some specialists have speculated that he is shorter than that and suffers from the Napoleon complex (short man’s syndrome).
Some Other Facts:
- Putin sleeps late at night and take the first meal at noon.
- He loves to swim.
- Putin is also a talented hockey player.
- Putin liked Beatles.
- He also liked spy novels while growing up.
- He is fluent in German, but not very confident in English.
- Putin doesn’t smoke and rarely drinks.
- He regularly runs out late for press meetings and other public appearances.
- Putin doesn’t live in Moscow, he thinks the city is too congested to live and prefers to work from his palace outside the city.
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