Not exactly flattering! However, only available in Russian language so far!
The former KGB agent is very cagey about his private life!
The Russian Caligula?
"A new book by two of Russia’s top investigative journalists, Roman Badanin and Mikhail Rubin, goes where few reporters have gone before: inside the personal life of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The Tsar In Propria Persona,” meaning “The Tsar Himself,” traces Putin’s transformation from an awkward young man in 1970s Leningrad into one of the most divisive political figures of the 21st century, drawing on unprecedented access to his inner circle of family and friends.
From a St. Petersburg strip club to pied-à-terre for sexual tristes, the book shines a light on the shadowy details of the Russian leader’s rise to reveal the sharp contrast between his public image as a defender of traditional values and a reality where extramarital affairs, nepotism, and connections to organized crime reign. ...
In doing so, “The Tsar In Propria Persona” — so far only available only in Russian — fills the void around Putin left by official biographies and silenced sources ...
In 1970s Leningrad, Putin, then in his 20s, was an awkward young man who found a guiding voice in his judo coach, Leonid Usvyatsov, a career criminal who witnesses found by Proekt recall had a penchant for violence. It was from Usvyatsov, Badanin and Rubin write, that Putin likely found his “appetite for risk and belief in [in the use of] force.”
As they report, Usvyatsov may have even used his connections to help Putin get into the highly competitive Leningrad University’s Law Faculty — a reach for a student who had finished school with a focus on natural sciences.
Putin fell under Usvyatsov’s influence between the latter’s two prison sentences before he was finally killed in a gangland shooting in 1994. Usvyatsov’s headstone reads: “At last I have died, but the mafia lives forever.” ...
how the Russian Orthodox Church became a powerful political instrument, how the Kremlin organized creeping control over Russian media and how family and friends came to benefit from Putin’s rise to power. ..."
Hidden details of Putin’s private life show his ‘real worldview,’ new book claims "A new book by reporters from Russian ICIJ media partner Proekt goes where none has gone before: Putin’s personal life and his inner circle."
Vladimir Putin with his wife Lyudmila Putina, at Orthodox Easter celebrations in Moscow in 2011.
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