Russian President Vladimir Putin was ranked as the world's most powerful leader by Forbes after Russia managed to put US threat of an attack on Syria at bay. Russia also gave asylum to former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who spilled the bins on US intelligence for the first time.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has stood — often bare-chested — at the helm of Russian politics since 1999, rotating between the presidency and the prime minister's office.
But before his fast rise to power, Putin spent most of his life far out of the limelight.
With Putin at the center of several global crises, from Syria to Ukraine, The WorldPost takes a look back at the leader's surprising past.
Full Name: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin [(/ˈpuːtɪn/; Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Пу́тин;
Born: October 7, 1952 (age 62), Saint Petersburg, Russia
Height: 1.70 m, Believed to be between 5ft 2" and 5ft 5" tall
Net Worth: USD 70 Billion (as per Forbes) but it may be as high as $200 billion
Father's Name: Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin
Mother's Name: Maria Ivanovna Shelomova
Spouse: Lyudmila Putina (m. 1983–2014)
Children: Mariya Putina, Yekaterina Putina
Martial arts: Sambo, Kyokushin, Judo
1. Vladimir Putin grew up in a communal apartment shared by three families in St. Petersburg (then known as Leningrad), and he says he remembers hunting rats in the stairwell.
The building on St. Petersburg's Baskov Lane where Putin spent his childhood is shown in this April 2002 photo. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky, File)
2. Putin's grandfather worked as a chef at Lenin’s country house and later cooked for Stalin several times.
Vladimir Lenin (1870 – 1924) at home. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
3. He earned a black belt in judo when he was 18 and still practices the martial art, which he describes as a life philosophy.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at a judo training in St. Petersburg, Russia, Dec. 18, 2009. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Pool)
4. Putin loves spy novels, once remarking “what amazed me most of all was how one man’s effort could achieve what whole armies could not.”
Vladimir Putin (L) and EU Commission President Jose Barroso read ancient books at an exhibition in Mafra monastery on the outskirts of Lisbon, 26 October 2007. (MIGUEL A. LOPES/AFP/Getty Images)
5. He joined the KGB straight out of university and spent the 1980s helping the Soviet secret police recruit people to spy on the West.
Vladimir Putin attends a meeting when he was chief of the Russian FSB (formulary the KGB) in Moscow, Russia 1999. (Photo by Laski Diffusion)
6. Putin loves his pet dogs and even brings them along to political talks, some suggest to scare fellow world leaders.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pets a rescue dog during his meeting with Russian rescue workers in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, June 6, 2008. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
7. He is fluent in German, but not very confident in English.
Vladimir Putin welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel for talks in St. Petersburg, Russia, June 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Anatoly Maltsev, pool)
8. Putin and his wife announced their divorce in 2013 during the interval of a ballet.
Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila walk before watching the ballet at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, June 6, 2013. (MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/AFP/Getty Images)
9. Putin has two daughters but their lives are kept a total secret. They attended college under assumed names and their professions and countries of residence are not known.
Vladimir Putin with his wife and daughter Katya, spring 1985, from the Putin family album. (Sovfoto/UIG via Getty Images)
10. He is an Orthodox Christian and has expressed his faith in controversial terms, for example by placing same-sex marriage on a par with belief in Satan.
Vladimir Putin crosses himself as he attends the Orthodox Christmas service at the Holy Face of Christ the Savior Church in Sochi, Jan. 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Maxim Shemetov, pool)
Vladimir Putin Net Worth
Based upon rumors, Vladimir Putin’s net worth may actually be higher than Bill Gates, making Russia’s leader the richest man in the world. But the Russian leader’s salary was recently reduced, and Putin claims he barely pays attention to his own income, so who is telling the truth?
Officially, Vladimir Putin’s net worth is thought to be around $70 billion according to Forbes, which makes the Russian the second-richest man in the world since Bill Gates’ net worth is $79.3 billion in 2015. Putin’s salary was previously nine million rubles, or $145,000, per year, whereas U.S. President Barack Obama earns $400,000 per year. At the same time, the average salary in Russia is estimated at $17,230, while the U.S. median household income was $51,939 in 2013.
Keep in mind it’s difficult to pin the relative value due to the unstable price of the ruble, but based upon Putin’s comments in December, he supposedly won’t even notice.
“Frankly, I don’t even know my own salary — they just give it to me, and I put it away in my account.” – Putin
Unofficially, Russian writer Stanislav Belkovsky claims Vladimir Putin’s net worth may be as high as $200 billion, which is difficult to ascertain since wealth can be hidden via shell companies and offshore accounts. Due to this possibility, rumors claim Putin may own much more, yet the Russian leader seems to believe he’s earned it.
In the end, a true estimate of Vladimir Putin’s net worth is almost impossible, although it’s possible Bill Gates is unofficially second place. The $200 billion figure is probably an extremely high mark since these estimates are largely based upon Putin’s ownership of 37 percent of oil company Surgutneftegaz, 4.5 percent of Gazprom, and “at least” 75 percent of Gunvor. Since these companies rely on oil prices, it’s possible Putin’s net worth has taken a beating in recent years.
Putin arriving at the 14th International Biker Rally in Sevastopol, Crimea, 24 July 2010
Putin Fishing In Siberia
Putin Feding Young Moose
[divider scroll_text=”Back To Top”]