Russia Today: Putin, Medvedev And Beyond

And so now, we're learning about Vladimir Putin.

Everybody here in Russia seems to have an opinion on Putin. But not everyone really seems to understand him.

When Boris Yeltsin emerged as the Russian leader in 1991 he was very popular. He was a new face and democracy seemed to be beginning to take hold.

Yeltsin imposed "shock therapy" on the Russian economy to get it stimulated again after the Gorbachev years which many Russians felt were an economic disaster. Yeltsin issued thousands of certificates or vouchers allowing people to buy shares of property that had previously been owned by the government. But some people collected vouchers, pooled them together and then they cashed in and became the new generation of Russian oligarchs who now own huge amounts of property and businesses in the country. Today, many of them are billionaires. But ordinary people did not prosper.

Yeltsin resigned after two terms and his hand-picked successor, Vladimir Putin took over. 

Born October 7, 1952 he was raised by middle class parents near St. Petersburg. His favorite subjects were language and history. He eventually became a KGB agent and spent several years in Dresden working for the KGB. Putin is now divorced, has two children but has never been seen together with his family and both of his children are now grown and live outside of Russia.

Putin's years have been marked in part by continuing conflicts with Chechnyan terrorists who seek to establish a separate Chechnyan state. 

Many people in Russia see Putin as "take charge hero" in the vanguard of Russian leaders. 

Putin's circle of influencers includes St. Petersburg economists, St.Petersburg lawyers, former KGB agents and some of Yeltsin's former advisors.

Russia suffered a serious default in 1998 but under Putin the country's economy has begun growing again, largely on the back of oil whose price has soared.  

But Russia makes money by exporting its natural resources out of the country, not turning those resources into products and services for Russians. Today Russia does not produce nearly as much in the way of durable goods as it once did and Russian billionaires invest their money abroad. In fact, Russia imports most of what it needs.

Putin is savvy at managing his personal image as a hip, daring, extremely fit, macho sort of leader -- a sort of renaissance man who takes risks and who even plays guitar and piano. 

Putin is said to be a billionaire who's net worth is reportedly $40 billion.