Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine last month, 'abruptly changed' at 11 years old, according to his former schoolteacher.
Putin is one of the most feared leaders in the world right now, as eyes all over the globe watch his 'special military operation' rage on. Over two million refugees have fled the conflict, as humanitarian corridors are reportedly being shelled and ceasefire agreements 'breached', with the invasion becoming increasingly violent by the day.
As people continue to watch in horror, extracts from his 2000 biography First Person have resurfaced featuring claims from one of his teachers that his behaviour changed suddenly aged 11.
Born in 1952 into a Saint Petersburg working-class family, Putin himself confessed to being a badly behaved 'hooligan' as a child. However, Vera Gurevich said the future Russian leader 'changed very abruptly in the sixth grade'.
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'It was obvious he had set himself a goal... More likely he had understood that he had to achieve something in his life', the teacher said, as per the Mirror.
Another teacher allegedly told Gurevich she thought Putin was 'sneaky and disorganised', but Gurevich maintained Putin would 'make something of himself'.
Putin admitted to First Person's authors that he enjoyed school 'as long as he managed to be the unspoken leader' and favored sports over socialising.
'When I began to do sports... I used to work out every other day and then every day. Soon I had no time for anything else. I had other priorities, I had to prove myself in sports, achieve something, I set goals', he said.
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Gurevich and Putin ended up forging a mother-son like relationship, even allegedly going on holiday together.
However, the schoolteacher warned of his unforgiving nature. 'I think [Putin] is a good person. But he never forgives people who betray him or are mean to him', she said at the time.
Speaking to the BBC today, March 9, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the Russian president was a 'spent force'.
British Defence Secretary Wallace "Whatever ... happens, President Putin is a spent force in the world and he is done, his army is done ... and he needs to recognise that," Wallace told Times Radio. "The international community has united against him”
'Whatever we think about President Putin, he is done. He is a spent force in the world. No-one will be taking his phone calls in the long term', he said.
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'He has exhausted his army, he is responsible for thousands of Russian soldiers being killed, responsible for innocent people being killed, civilians being killed in Ukraine. He is reducing his economy to zero, because the international community has decided that is absolutely unacceptable, what he’s done.'
The Kremlin has denied an invasion of Ukraine, instead describing it as a 'special military operation' designed to 'denazify' the country.
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Topics: Vladimir Putin, Russia, Ukraine, World News