Vladimir Putin is the current president of Russia; a position that he also held in the years 2000-2008. He is the leader of the political party United Russia.

Putin runs a strict regime with prison sentences for political opponents and critics, and he has recently become unpopular around the world because of legislation banning homosexual ‘propaganda’, as well as the recent invasion of Ukraine.

Who is Vladimir Putin, what are his political views, and what drives him as a person? Many critics point to Putin’s background in the KGB - to what extent has his training with the security services of a totalitarian state played a part in the politician he has become?

Keynotes about Putin take a closer look at Russia’s strong, but not exactly popular, leader.