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00:00Known for being photographed shirtless and alongside wild animals, perhaps at the same
00:04time, Vladimir Putin has cultivated an image as an intimidating and fearless figure on the
00:09world stage.
00:10He's a martial arts expert, a fearless political actor and a former spy.
00:15His resume holds a certain cachet in the West.
00:18As a former KGB agent, he's automatically associated with secrecy, intimidation and
00:24the old fears Americans had of the Soviet Union for much of the 21st century.
00:29Putin has said of himself that he lived a long time as an ordinary person, and ordinary
00:33is all he wishes to be.
00:35For decades, though, he hasn't been anything but ordinary, as he's spent his life climbing
00:39the ranks of the Russian government, moving farther and farther away from his ordinary
00:44roots.
00:59He was born in St. Petersburg in 1952, in the midst of the Cold War.
01:03Putin had two older brothers, but unfortunately both died during childhood, so Putin was raised
01:09essentially as an only child.
01:10He was an atheist as a child, but today he's an Eastern Orthodox Christian.
01:15During Putin's childhood, his mother stayed at home and his father, a veteran of World
01:19War II, worked in a factory.
01:20As an interesting aside, his grandfather was a cook who worked for Vladimir Lenin and even
01:25prepared meals for Stalin a few times.
01:27The Putin family lived in a communal apartment shared by three families, a home where Putin
01:33says he used to hunt rats in the stairwell, perhaps a precursor to his later fascination
01:37with hunting and with wild animals in general.
01:45Growing up, Putin didn't prove himself to be anything particularly special in his early
01:49years, but then, by the age of 12, he discovered athletic competition.
01:54It was in the midst of a competition that Putin began to set himself apart.
01:58Social arts was his chosen sport, particularly Sambo and Judo.
02:03Though his mother did not initially approve of his participation in the sports, Putin proved
02:07himself to be a worthy and skilled competitor in both.
02:11At one point, his coach even showed up at the Putin home to speak with his mother about
02:15how much promise Vladimir showed.
02:16Well, it was actually that that did the trick and his parents began to support his athletic
02:21pursuits.
02:22Putin now holds a black belt in Judo and has continued to compete in both Sambo and Judo,
02:27establishing himself as the first world leader to be at an advanced level in the sports.
02:32He also remained the president of the same dojo he practiced in while growing up.
02:36Though he established himself as athletically talented, Putin did not excel academically in
02:41school during his childhood.
02:43He attended a local school for his early years and then attended a magnet school focused on
02:47chemistry.
02:48He didn't push himself, but his teachers saw that he did have potential and they encouraged
02:53him to focus as much on his school work as he did on his martial arts practice.
02:58It was in the sixth grade when Putin really began to push himself and that showed in his
03:02grades.
03:03He was welcomed to the Young Pioneers, the youth group that was run by the Communist Party.
03:07This was a serious mark of honor as Putin had previously been one of only a few from the
03:11class who had not been welcomed into the organization.
03:14From 1970 to 1975, Putin continued his studies at St. Petersburg State University.
03:20While there, he studied law and was required to join the Communist Party.
03:24He later left the party, denouncing communism in 1991 when he said of Marxism-Leninism that,
03:29"...it became more and more obvious for me, more obvious truth, that it was nothing more
03:33than a beautiful and harmful fairy tale."
03:36At St. Petersburg State University Putin met Anatoly Sobchak, who would become a key figure
03:41in Putin's political success.
03:44Sobchak was an assistant professor at the school, but he actually went on to co-author
03:48The Constitution of the Russian Federation and was also the first democratically elected
03:52mayor of St. Petersburg.
04:02Putin graduated from St. Petersburg State University in 1975 and it was then that he joined the KGB.
04:07The KGB was the Soviet Union's security agency for much of the 20th century.
04:12It was created in 1954 and continued to operate until 1991, when the Soviet Union itself was
04:18dismantled.
04:19Translated to English, KGB stands for State Security Committee.
04:23It had a reputation for oppression and monitoring the actions and opinions of Soviet citizens.
04:28The KGB was a truly frightening organization for democracy and an indication of the dangers
04:34of communism to Westerners.
04:36The organization quelled rebellions and kept a close eye on anyone suspected to be in opposition
04:41to the Soviet regime.
04:42Putin started his career with the KGB in Leningrad, but he was later moved to Dresden, Germany.
04:48Before his transfer to Germany, Putin married.
04:51To this very day, Putin keeps his home life very private and information about his family
04:55is very closely guarded.
04:56He and his wife, Ludmilla, were married from 1983 until their divorce in 2013.
05:01Their divorce was seemingly amicable, with no specific reason given for it, though Ludmilla
05:05made references to Putin's dedication to his work and the time investment required to
05:10serve as world leader.
05:11They have two daughters together, Maria and Jektarina, both of whose lives remain incredibly
05:16secret.
05:17They both used fake names to go and register for college, and it's not entirely known
05:21in which country either of the Putin daughters currently lives.
05:24In 2016, European newspapers even described Maria as a secret daughter, noting that she had
05:30not been known to be photographed during the entire length of Putin's time in power.
05:34For a former spy and a man with many, many enemies, it's perhaps sensible that his daughters
05:39have maintained this secret life.
05:41Putin has stated,
05:42Putin moved with his family to Dresden, where he served with the KGB for five years.
06:01He was fluent in German and still speaks this language to this day, and he's stated that
06:05he actually feels more comfortable using German than English.
06:07Putin served in this Dresden post from 1985 to 1990, working as an undercover agent, playing
06:13the part of a translator.
06:14The work, though not all of what Putin did is known, he was a spy after all, wasn't
06:19particularly interesting.
06:20Much of it was simply amassing information on people, ensuring that they remained loyal
06:24to the Soviets and were not plotting any kind of revolution.
06:27In 1989, though, the situation became rather more dicey for the Soviets who were stationed in
06:32Dresden.
06:33During this incident, as it became more and more clear that East Germany was falling out
06:36of Soviet control, Putin and his colleagues feared for their lives as crowds stormed the
06:41KGB headquarters in Dresden.
06:44Putin called in the Soviet military for help, but he was told that nothing could be done
06:47for them unless Moscow gave the order, something that Moscow never did.
06:51While Putin and his colleagues survived their day, it had become increasingly clear that the
06:55situation was unstable.
06:57During this time, Putin and other KGB agents began burning files so that when the day came,
07:02that their headquarters was overtaken or abandoned, or both, no files would be left in the hands
07:07of their enemies.
07:17The Berlin Wall fell in November of 1989, and soon after, Putin and his family returned to
07:22Russia.
07:23By this point, Putin held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the KGB.
07:26However, the KGB was nearing the end of its existence, and Putin was able to find work
07:31at the State University of St. Petersburg.
07:33He was no ordinary professor, though, he was still working for the KGB.
07:37Part of his job included keeping an eye out for students who showed promise as potential
07:41new KGB recruits.
07:43Through his job, Putin was also able to reconnect with his former professor and Natalie Sobchak.
07:48Sobchak was elected the mayor of St. Petersburg in 1991, and Putin joined his team as an advisor.
07:55He worked for Sobchak until 1996.
07:57When Sobchak lost re-election, Putin could have opted to continue working for his successor,
08:02but Putin believed that taking a job with Sobchak's political opponent would be disloyal,
08:06and he instead chose to move to Moscow to begin working with the Yeltsin administration.
08:20During Boris Yeltsin's presidency, Putin rose through the ranks, first serving as Deputy
08:24Chief Administrator for the Kremlin Russia's version of the White House, and by 1999 he
08:29was named Secretary of the Security Council and became Yeltsin's chief advisor on matters
08:33of foreign relations and intelligence.
08:35But it was then that Putin's career got a real, real boost.
08:40Yeltsin decided he didn't want to keep his current Prime Minister, so he got rid of him.
08:44That was in August of 1999, and Putin was the beneficiary of this decision as Yeltsin named
08:50Vladimir Putin to the post.
08:52Yeltsin offered Putin the position of a Prime Minister with prospects, somewhat foreshadowing
08:57the next step in Putin's career.
08:59Because only months after naming Putin as Prime Minister, Boris Yeltsin himself stepped down
09:04and Vladimir Putin became the acting President of Russia in December of 1999.
09:09Then, only three months later, in March of 2000, Putin was officially elected and became President
09:15of Russia in his own right.
09:1810 opponents ran against him for President, but he won, and for the first time in Russia's
09:31history, there was a peaceful transfer of power to a democratically elected President.
09:36Putin used his first term to advocate for certain international policies, including approval
09:41of the START II arms treaty and improving relations with China.
09:45Putin was also initially supportive of the United States' war on terror that followed
09:48the 9-11 terrorist attacks, but he did not support the United States' invasion of Iraq.
09:54During Putin's first summer in power, tragedy struck Russia when the Kursk submarine sank in
09:59the Barents Sea in August.
10:01Putin was on vacation when the sinking occurred, and he did not immediately return home to address
10:06the sinking and the deaths of all 118 crew members who had been on board.
10:10Then when he was asked what went wrong with the Kursk, Putin replied starkly that it sank.
10:16Distraught and angry Russians were attacking their President for his handling, or lack thereof,
10:20of the Kursk disaster, with some even accusing him of leaving sailors to die when a rescue
10:24might have still been possible.
10:26But despite all of this, opinion polls showed that overall his image did not sustain much damage
10:30from the tragedy.
10:31Indeed, four years later, the Kursk tragedy did not affect his re-election at all.
10:35In 2004, the Russians re-elected him to a second term as their President, and they were apparently
10:40really pleased with the job he was doing, as Putin received over 70% of the vote.
10:53During his first term in office, Putin focused on economic reforms.
10:57Having denounced communism, he instead supported an economic system that was essentially capitalism,
11:03with very strict regulations and oversight.
11:06After years of economic struggle, Russia was finally beginning to see a stabilizing and
11:11even growing economy under Putin.
11:13Some reports put Russia's growth during his first term at 7% annually.
11:17Indeed, he still remembered favorably for this growth, though it came with increased
11:21nationalization of industry, and in part because of the mid-2000s global financial crash,
11:26the growth did not last.
11:28But in a country whose economy was in disarray for nearly the entire decade before Putin's
11:32rise to power, an era of growth in which disposable income nearly doubled was reason for the people
11:37to think really positively of Putin.
11:39Now, Putin did work on those economic policies we already mentioned in his first term, but
11:42he also made strides in foreign relations, including making a historic trip to Israel.
11:48This was the first ever trip by a Russian leader to the country.
11:51Conversations between Putin and Israeli leaders focused largely on security issues.
11:55During the trip, it garnered much attention around the world as it came in the midst of strengthening
11:59ties between Russia and Israel, though the two nations disagreed on topics such as the
12:05Russian sale of missiles to Syria.
12:07The trip was also seen as a move by Putin to help secure Russia's position as a key
12:12diplomatic actor in any Middle East peace discussions or agreements.
12:17Security issues were present not just abroad, though, and homeland security would become a major
12:22focus for Putin.
12:23Unfortunately, this is something that became really clear during the horrific tragedy at
12:27the Beslan School in 2014.
12:29In September, terrorists held over 1,000 people hostage at the Beslan School in North Ossetia.
12:35Nearly 800 of these hostages were children.
12:37For three days, these terrorists, demanding Chechen independence from Russia, held these people
12:41hostage.
12:42The situation had a tragic ending when tanks, rockets and other artillery were used by the Russian
12:47military to try to clear the school.
12:49The forces entered the school after hearing explosions from inside where the hostages were
12:53being kept, but their actions did not save lives.
12:56Quite the contrary.
12:57In the siege of the school, over 300 people died, nearly two-thirds of whom were children.
13:02The tragedy shook the world, and while the government was cleared of any wrongdoing initially, the
13:06European Court of Human Rights later stated that Russia had used excessive force and lacked
13:11caution when they stormed the school.
13:13Despite anger and discontentment at the government's handling of the tragedy in general, it did not
13:17affect the public's view of Putin very much at all.
13:20Quite the opposite, in fact.
13:21A poll taken after the Beslan massacre stated that 83% of Russians were still happy with
13:25him.
13:26The Beslan tragedy did lead to changes in the halls of Russian power, though, primarily
13:29giving more power to the Russian president.
13:31For instance, instead of electing governors in regions like North Ossetia and Chechnya,
13:35the president would have the power to appoint governors.
13:38In 2007, during his second term, Putin was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year.
13:43The magazine called the final year of his second term, his most successful yet, and the cover
13:48photo for the issue, a portrait of Putin, won the photographer the World Press Photo Award.
13:53During the shoot, the two discussed their mutual admiration for the Beatles.
13:57This connection helped Putin become more comfortable and gave the photographer the chance to get
14:01an award-winning shot of the intimidating world leader.
14:04No matter how popular Putin was, though, the Russian people could not elect him to a third
14:09term.
14:10The Russian Constitution simply forbid it.
14:11However, Putin found a way around this rule just when his time in office was about to run
14:16out.
14:17The presidential terms in Russia had been extended to six years.
14:29But this change did not benefit Putin.
14:31He was beholden to the previous constitutional rules.
14:35So how did he get to stay in power?
14:36Well, the man who was elected Russia's next president was Dmitry Medvedev, and he was a
14:41protege of Putin's and had benefited from Putin's rise to power.
14:45Neither he nor Putin wanted Putin to be pushed off the international stage, and so Medvedev named
14:50Putin as Russia's Prime Minister, a position he had previously held under Boris Yeltsin.
14:55After 13 years in leadership, Putin would remain at the highest levels of Russia's government.
14:59He and his supporters were able to keep him in power and stay in line with the law, although
15:04perhaps not exactly in line with its exact intent.
15:08During his third time as Prime Minister from 2008 to 2012, Putin focused on dealing with
15:13the economic crisis that swept the world, as well as Russia's population problems.
15:18Russia's population was falling by one million people a year, a devastating number for a country
15:22whose population is only 150 million.
15:25In 2010, the trend reversed, and Russia's population began to grow.
15:29The reversal is in part credited to Putin's economic reforms.
15:33When people have more money, it is easier to support a larger family.
15:37One of Putin's economic reforms included joining the World Trade Organization, or WTO, in 2012.
15:44Negotiations for Russia to join the WTO lasted nearly two decades, as they had started
15:48after the fall of the Soviet Union.
15:50Russia was granted entry into the WTO after negotiations reached a point which granted Russia
15:54permission to phase in the opening of markets, while it aligned with other WTO trading requirements.
16:06While his political party retained dominance and Putin was again the candidate for president
16:10in 2012, he did not escape politically unscathed from his maneuver to hold onto power by sidestepping
16:16the term limits.
16:17The elections in 2012 were heavily protested, with claims of fraud tainting Putin's election
16:22to a third term.
16:24The task of the government is not only to pour honey into a cup, but sometimes to give bitter
16:28medicine.
16:29But despite those protests, he was inaugurated in May of 2012, and this time his term would
16:35be six years.
16:36This means that Putin will be president of Russia until at least 2018, and with allegations
16:41of his interference in United States elections, his prominence in the world only seems to grow.
16:54Putin has continued to be re-elected and reappointed to positions at the highest level of Russian
16:58government.
16:59But his time in office has not been without questions surrounding his shady actions.
17:04Among the high points, or low points we should say, of intrigue surrounding Putin are the murders
17:09of Russian journalists.
17:11Deaths of journalists were a point of concern in Russia long before Putin's rise to power,
17:15but the issue?
17:16Well, it began to get a lot of international attention during Putin's second term as president,
17:21when journalist Anna Politkovskaya was murdered.
17:24This journalist had been a strong critic of Putin, and particularly the war in Chechnya.
17:28Even before her death, she was even poisoned, but ultimately recovered.
17:31Her murder remains to this day unsolved, but there is suspicion that Putin and his government
17:36were killed.
17:37Politkovskaya is also far from the only Putin opponent whose death has occurred in suspicious
17:42circumstances.
17:43In March of 2017, the Washington Post even published a list of 10 such deaths.
17:48Among these deaths was a former deputy prime minister and Putin critic who was shot outside
17:53the Kremlin.
17:54He was a tycoon whose death was initially called a suicide, but now that's rather unsure.
17:58There's also a journalist who was kidnapped and shot in the woods, and a former KGB agent
18:03who was found to be poisoned by Russian agents.
18:04Then there's the journalist who died of a mysterious illness, and whose medical records have been
18:10sealed.
18:11Certainly, not failing on any intrigue here.
18:16Though many of these deaths may never be proven beyond doubt to be the work of Putin's
18:24government, one thing is absolutely certain.
18:27Vladimir Putin does not like to be viewed as weak.
18:31He has done all he can to prove his strength and show the world that he is strong and manly.
18:36Beyond his active participation in martial arts, he shows his power and dominance by hunting,
18:40tracking, and posing with wild animals.
18:43He's caught huge fish, including a 46-pound pike, and shot a crossbow at a whale only to
18:48tranquilize it.
18:49He also once saved a camera crew from a Siberian tiger that was about to attack them while on
18:54a tour of a wildlife sanctuary.
18:56Further, he's actually got close enough to polar bears to attach a tracking device to
19:00them for a research project.
19:02Now, polar bears might look cute and you might not think this is particularly dangerous, but
19:05they're actually incredibly vicious creatures.
19:07Putin has also attached himself to an experimental flying machine to accompany birds on migration.
19:13And it's important to note that he always does these things, carefully making sure that
19:16there are photographers present.
19:18The more I know about people, the more I like dogs.
19:21I like simple animals.
19:22When he's not hanging out with wild animals, Putin makes time for other adventurous and athletic
19:27activities.
19:28He dives in the Black Sea, explores shipwrecks, plays hockey, rides snowmobiles and motorcycles,
19:33and has even driven a Formula 1 race car.
19:35Once, during a visit to a Russian youth camp, he even challenged attendees to arm wrestle
19:39with him.
19:40Then, not content with arm wrestling as a show of strength, he tried to bend a frying pan
19:44with his bare hands.
19:45Naturally, there were photographers on hand to catch all of these incredible moments,
19:49and the photos have been distributed and widely viewed around the world, you've probably
19:52seen several of them.
19:53From his days at school cultivating an athletic reputation to his time as president and prime
19:57minister, Putin has made it known that he is a man to be reckoned with.
20:03During his most recent time as president, with a couple of years left to go, Putin has found
20:13himself centered on the world stage.
20:15Russia has been involved in the Syrian civil war, supporting the government of Bashar al-Assad.
20:20In early July 2017, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump announced a ceasefire in southwestern Syria,
20:26and weeks later, Russia announced that it had signed a deal with Syria, allowing Russia
20:30to keep its airbase in the country for at least 50 more years.
20:34In addition to Syria, perhaps Putin's most talked about involvement has been the alleged
20:38interference of Russia in the US election.
20:41From hacking allegations to questions of illicit meetings and deals with members of Trump's
20:45inner circle, the US and the world media have made Putin and his political dealings a household
20:50conversation topic.
20:51So, Vladimir Putin began his life growing up in a communal apartment in the midst of Russia
20:56during the Cold War and has become an internationally polarizing figure.
21:00He's been strong and unapologetic in his foreign policy and use of force, and questions
21:05swirl around his treatment of political opponents and critical journalists.
21:09Putin is unwilling to sit back and be a shrinking violet on the world stage, ensuring Russia remains
21:15a world power with a great deal of influence.
21:17He has done all that he can to cultivate an image of strength both for Russia as a country
21:22and for himself personally, showing no signs of stopping his adventurous and daredevil lifestyle
21:28even as he enters his 60s.
21:30Vladimir Putin has undoubtedly made a place for himself in world history, and with him eligible
21:35for re-election in 2018, we may still have many years of Putin on the world stage.
21:58Thank you for watching!
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