Putin’s Russia: The Rise of a Dictator is out now.

On social media writer and artist Daryl Cunningham share 10 things you didn’t know about Putin.

1. Putin’s father, also called Vladimir, was a conscript in the navy in the 1930s, serving on a submarine.

2. Putin’s father was a member of the NKVD (secret police) during the Second World War.

3. Both Putin’s parents were survivors of the Nazi Siege of Leningrad in the Second World War and almost starved to death.

4. Putin grew up in the trash-strewn, rat-infested apartment blocks of Leningrad, fighting with other kids.

5. Putin joined the KGB in 1975. After ten years he was transferred the the KGB’s foreign espionage division and posted to Dresden in what was then East Germany.

6. Putin resigned from the KGB in 1990 at the rank of lieutenant colonel, but most likely stayed on the active reserve list.

7. Putin is among those implicated in the theft of millions of dollars worth of commodities when he worked for the mayor of St. Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak, in the early 90s.

8. Anna Politkovskaya, journalist and vocal critic of Putin, was murdered on 7 October 2006. Putin turned 54 that day. Many people believe that the murder was a birthday present.

9. Putin is believed to own an opulent palace on the shores of the Black Sea, build with $1.35 of illicit funds. The palace features include a port, a vineyard, an underground hockey rink, a church and helipad.

10. After plundering Russia’s wealth for more than twenty years, Putin is estimated to be worth $200 billion, which would make him unofficially the richest person in the world, above Jeff Bezos.

Get the book here https://myriadeditions.com/books/putin-and-russia/