Editing Vladimir Putin (section)

== Early life and education ==
[[File:Vladimir Putin as a child.jpg|thumb|Putin, {{circa|1960s}}|upright=0.75|left]]
{{Putin sidebar}}
Putin was born on 7 October 1952 in Leningrad, [[Soviet Union]] (now Saint Petersburg, Russia),<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Prime Minister of the Russian Federation – Biography |url = http://premier.gov.ru/eng/premier/biography.html |date = 14 May 2010 |access-date = 31 July 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100514164020/http://premier.gov.ru/eng/premier/biography.html |archive-date = 14 May 2010 |url-status = dead }}</ref> the youngest of three children of Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin (1911–1999) and Maria Ivanovna Putina ({{née|Shelomova}}; 1911–1998). His grandfather, [[Spiridon Putin]] (1879–1965), was a personal cook to [[Vladimir Lenin]] and [[Joseph Stalin]].<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Putin says grandfather cooked for Stalin and Lenin |url = https://www.reuters.com/article/russia-putin-family/putin-says-grandfather-cooked-for-stalin-and-lenin-idINKCN1GN0P7 |work = Reuters |date = 11 March 2018 |access-date = 30 January 2021 |archive-date = 26 February 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220226111344/https://www.reuters.com/article/russia-putin-family/putin-says-grandfather-cooked-for-stalin-and-lenin-idINKCN1GN0P7 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Sebestyen |first=Victor |title=Lenin the Dictator |publisher=[[Weidenfeld & Nicolson]] |location=London |year=2018 |page=422 |isbn=978-1-4746-0105-4}}</ref> Putin's birth was preceded by the deaths of two brothers: Albert, born in the 1930s, died in infancy, and Viktor, born in 1940, died of [[diphtheria]] and [[starvation]] in 1942 during the [[Siege of Leningrad]] by [[Nazi Germany]]'s forces in [[World War II]].<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Barry |first = Ellen |date = 27 January 2012 |title = At Event, a Rare Look at Putin's Life |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/28/world/europe/vladimir-putin-describes-loss-of-a-brother-at-ceremony.html |url-status = live |work = The New York Times |archive-url = https://archive.today/20210806060318/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/28/world/europe/vladimir-putin-describes-loss-of-a-brother-at-ceremony.html |archive-date = 6 August 2021 |access-date = 27 March 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/putins-brother-died-siege-leningrad-which-bears-striking-resemblance-syrian-crisis-1585531 |title = Putin's brother died in Siege of Leningrad, which bears striking resemblance to Syrian crisis |last = Pasha-Robinson |first = Lucy |date = 9 October 2016 |website = [[International Business Times]] |archive-url = https://archive.today/20220327000026/https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/putins-brother-died-siege-leningrad-which-bears-striking-resemblance-syrian-crisis-1585531 |archive-date = 27 March 2022 |url-status = live |access-date = 27 March 2022 }}</ref>

Putin's mother was a factory worker, and his father was a [[conscript]] in the [[Soviet Navy]], serving in the [[submarine]] fleet in the early 1930s. During the early stage of the [[Operation Barbarossa|Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union]], his father served in the [[destruction battalion]] of the [[NKVD]].<ref name="first-person">{{cite book |title=First Person |author1=Vladimir Putin |author2=Nataliya Gevorkyan |author3=Natalya Timakova |author4=Andrei Kolesnikov |others=trans. Catherine A. Fitzpatrick |year=2000 |publisher=[[PublicAffairs]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/firstpersonaston00puti/page/208 208] |isbn=978-1-58648-018-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/firstpersonaston00puti/page/208}}</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/p/putin-first.html First Person An Astonishingly Frank Self-Portrait by Russia's President Vladimir Putin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312213049/http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/p/putin-first.html |date=12 March 2018 }} ''The New York Times'', 2000.</ref><ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-mar-19-mn-10446-story.html Putin's Obscure Path From KGB to Kremlin]  ''Los Angeles Times'', 19 March 2000.</ref> Later, he was transferred to the regular army and was severely wounded in 1942.<ref name="sakwa_p3">{{harv |Sakwa |2008 |p=3}}</ref> Putin's maternal grandmother was [[World War II casualties of the Soviet Union|killed by the German occupiers]] of [[Tver]] region in 1941, and his maternal uncles disappeared on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] during World War II.<ref>Sakwa, Richard. ''Putin Redux: Power and Contradiction in Contemporary Russia'' (2014), p. 2.</ref>

=== Education ===
On 1 September 1960, Putin started at School No. 193 at Baskov Lane, near his home. He was one of a few in his class of about 45 pupils who were not yet members of the [[Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization|Young Pioneer]] (''[[Komsomol]]'') organization. At the age of 12, he began to practice [[sambo (martial art)|sambo]] and judo.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://russia.rin.ru/guides_e/2637.html |title = Prime Minister |publisher = Russia.rin.ru |access-date = 24 September 2011 |archive-date = 11 February 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220211191445/https://russia.rin.ru/guides_e/2637.html |url-status = live }}</ref> In his free time, he enjoyed reading the works of [[Karl Marx]], [[Friedrich Engels]], and Lenin.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jzf8FsShUgC&q=marx |title=Putin's Progress: A Biography of Russia's Enigmatic President, Vladimir Putin |first=Peter |last=Truscott |via=Google Books |page=40 |isbn=978-0-7434-9607-0 |date=2005 |publisher=Pocket Books |access-date=25 February 2022 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405024632/https://books.google.com/books?id=2jzf8FsShUgC&q=marx |url-status=live}}</ref> Putin attended Saint Petersburg High School 281 with a German language immersion program.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = http://www.haaretz.com/news/world/1.582099 |title = In Tel Aviv, Putin's German Teacher Recalls 'Disciplined' Student |work = Haaretz |date = 26 March 2014 |access-date = 16 April 2016 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151119182033/http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/1.582099 |archive-date = 19 November 2015 }}</ref> He is fluent in German and often gives speeches and interviews in that language.<ref>{{cite tweet |user=mathieuvonrohr |number=1031306883297173504 |title=Rare video of Putin speaking German (giving a speech as the honorary guest at the Austrian foreign minister's wedding). He reads from a piece of paper, has a noticeable Russian accent but speaks fluently.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1pLgS3vad0 |title=Russian President speaks at Reichstag |website=www.youtube.com |date=25 September 2001}}</ref>

Putin studied law at the Leningrad State University named after [[Andrei Zhdanov]] (now [[Saint Petersburg State University]]) in 1970 and graduated in 1975.<ref name="law">{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/russiagov/putin.htm |title = Putin's Career Rooted in Russia's KGB |last = Hoffman |first = David |date = 30 January 2000 |newspaper = The Washington Post |access-date = 17 September 2017 |archive-date = 23 June 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190623173752/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/russiagov/putin.htm |url-status = live }}</ref> His thesis was on "The [[Most favoured nation|Most Favored Nation Trading Principle]] in International Law".<ref>Lynch, Allen. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=uT1aD0D5FRAC&pg=PA15 Vladimir Putin and Russian Statecraft]'', p. 15 (Potomac Books 2011).</ref> While there, he was required to join the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] (CPSU); he remained a member until it ceased to exist in 1991.<ref>Владимир Путин. ''От Первого Лица''. [http://www.kremlin.ru/articles/bookchapter6.shtml Chapter 6] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090630150907/http://www.kremlin.ru/articles/bookchapter6.shtml |date=30 June 2009}}</ref> Putin met [[Anatoly Sobchak]], an assistant professor who taught [[business law]],{{Efn|{{langx|ru|хозяйственное право|khozyaystvennoye pravo}}.}} and who later became the co-author of the [[Russian constitution]]. Putin was influential in Sobchak's career in Saint Petersburg, and Sobchak was influential in Putin's career in Moscow.<ref name="Vlast">{{cite book |last=Pribylovsky |first=Vladimir |script-title=ru:Власть – 2010 (60 биографий) |year=2010 |publisher=Panorama |isbn=978-5-94420-038-9 |pages=132–139 |chapter-url=http://scilla.ru/works/knigi/vlast2010.pdf |author-link=Vladimir Pribylovsky |location=Moscow |language=ru |chapter=Valdimir Putin |access-date=1 August 2010 |archive-date=31 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130731145504/http://scilla.ru/works/knigi/vlast2010.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1997, Putin received a degree in economics (''[[Candidate of Sciences|Candidate of Economical Sciences]]'') at the [[Saint Petersburg Mining University]] for a thesis on energy dependencies and their instrumentalisation in foreign policy.<ref name=mvart1>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.gazeta.ru/2006/03/28/oa_193799.shtml |author = Vartanov, Mikhail |title = Путина не смогли завалить 'чёрные рецензенты' |trans-title = Putin could not fill up 'black reviewers' |language = ru |publisher = [[Gazeta.Ru]] |date = 28 March 2006 |access-date = 30 August 2022 |archive-date = 18 August 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160818065327/https://www.gazeta.ru/2006/03/28/oa_193799.shtml |url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name="dwd24">{{cite news |title=Russia's energy empire: Putin and the rise of Gazprom |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akihe-AtpW8 |agency=YouTube |publisher=DW Documentary |date=3 February 2024 |access-date=4 February 2024 |archive-date=4 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204024723/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akihe-AtpW8 |url-status=live}}</ref> His supervisor was [[Vladimir Litvinenko]], who in 2000 and again in 2004 managed his presidential election campaigns in St Petersburg.<ref name="idcg06">{{cite news |last1=Danchenko |first1=Igor |last2=Gaddy |first2=Clifford |title=The Mystery of Vladimir Putin's Dissertation |url=https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Putin-Dissertation-Event-remarks-with-slides.pdf |publisher=The Brookings Institution |date=30 March 2006 |access-date=6 February 2024 |archive-date=25 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225145253/https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Putin-Dissertation-Event-remarks-with-slides.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Igor Danchenko]] and Clifford Gaddy consider Putin to be a [[plagiarist]] according to Western standards. One book from which he copied entire paragraphs is the Russian-language edition of [[William Richard King|King]] and [[David I. Cleland|Cleland]]'s ''Strategic Planning and Policy'' (1978).<ref name="idcg06"/> Balzer wrote on the Putin thesis and Russian energy policy and concludes along with Olcott that "The primacy of the Russian state in the country's energy sector is non-negotiable", and cites the insistence on majority Russian ownership of any joint-venture, particularly since [[BASF]] signed the Gazprom [[Nord Stream]]-[[Yuzhno-Russkoye]] deal in 2004 with a 49–51 structure, as opposed to the older 50–50 split of [[BP]]'s [[TNK-BP]] project.<ref name=balzer05>Harley Balzer, "The Putin Thesis and Russian Energy Policy" ''Post-Soviet Affairs'', 2005, 21, 3, pp. 210–225.</ref>