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Who was Vladimir Putin before he became president? (from Quora)

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Elena Gold  ·  Media analyst  Mon Who was Vladimir Putin before he became president? Vladimir Putin removed all copies of his first official biography from libraries — even the heavily abridged version contradicted the version he wants to give to the public today. But there were stories in that biography (and posts by his ex-wife after the divorce), which were available at the time; people still have copies. (I included info from these sources in my latest book.) Young Vova grew in poverty. There is a story that says he was adopted and spent 1st years of his life in a remote Caucasus village with his biological mother, where he was mercilessly bullied by local kids. His mother was from a town in the Urals, midway to Siberia. After a few years, she sent her son back home and her parents gave the boy to relatives in St. Petersburg to raise. (His official parents were quite old when the boy was born in early 1950s. It was customary to hide the fact of adoption at the time in...
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Exclusive: Trump's top envoy negotiating Ukraine's fate displays 'shocking' lack of knowledge about war, politics

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Politics January 28, 2026 9:46 pm  (Updated:  January 29, 2026 6:24 pm) •  6 min read by  Tim Zadorozhnyy,  Jimmy Rushton ,  The Kyiv Independent Editor's note: This story has been updated with a response from the White House. A senior U.S. envoy involved in efforts to end Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine has displayed a lack of basic understanding of Ukraine's political system and the war itself while speaking in a closed conversation with a small group of reporters, the Kyiv Independent has learned. The official is engaged in high-level negotiations with both Moscow and Kyiv as  Ukraine , Russia, and the United States reenter an active  diplomatic phase  under President Donald Trump's renewed push to end the war. During recent conversations with reporters, the U.S. official incorrectly claimed that  Kyrylo Budanov , the recently appointed head of the President's Office and former chief of military intelligence, now ser...
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A peace deal between Russia and Ukraine looks close, except on everything that matters

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Three issues still block an agreement to end the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 23, 2026. | Ukrainian Presidency/Anadolu via Getty Images January 29, 2026  4:00 am CET By  Eva Hartog ,  Politico Another round of U.S.-brokered talks to end the war in Ukraine, Moscow and Kyiv remain deadlocked over the core disagreements that have defined the conflict since it began. On Monday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said  his negotiating team  could meet with the Russians and Americans as soon as Sunday. The Ukrainian president is ready to sit down with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin,  according to his foreign minister  Andrii Sybiha. But, Sybiha acknowledged, “the most sensitive issues are still unresolved.” Before talks last weekend in the United Arab Emirates, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said the differences had been boiled down to one, “solvable,” issue. Speaking in Davos, U.S. President Don...
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Ukraine sees ‘progress’ in latest talks with Russia despite ongoing attacks

Ukraine’s foreign minister described the Russian officials involved in the new rounds of talks, which resume Sunday in the United Arab Emirates, as much more serious than before. By David L. Stern and Anastacia Galouchka, The Washington Post Updated January 28, 2026 at 11:55 a.m. EST Pedestrians walk past a residential building with a patriotic mural depicting a Ukrainian soldier, in Kyiv on Wednesday. (Sergei Gapon/AFP/Getty Images) KYIV — Ukraine’s top diplomat cited “progress” in the latest round of talks with Russia held in the United Arab Emirates, saying that Moscow had sent more serious negotiators this time around. The talks, which include the United States, are set to resume Sunday. On Tuesday, however, Russia’s daily onslaught in Ukraine included an attack on a passenger train, killing at least five people — a rare occurrence in the nearly four-year-old conflict. Ukraine is also hoping to soon nail down U.S. security guarantees before it tackles some of the thornier issues in...
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