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[[File:Vladtheimpaler.jpg|thumb|200px|Putin at an conference]]
[[File:Vladtheimpaler.jpg|thumb|200px|Putin at an conference]]
He was married to Lyudmila Putina, a former stewardess with Aeroflot, from July 28, 1983, until 2014, when the two divorced. They have two daughters.
He was married to Lyudmila Putina, a former stewardess with Aeroflot, from July 28, 1983, until 2014, when the two divorced. They have two daughters.
The legend of Putin began the night of the [[Fall of the Wall]] in Germany. Putin was stationed in the consulate in [[Dresden]]. A mob had raided the [[East German]] [[Stasi]] headquarters and had moved on the Soviet consulate. In the chaos, the consulate was out of touch with [[Moscow]] and could not receive instructions. Putin, alone, armed with a pistol acting on his own, stared down the mob and told them if they took one more step, they would be shot. The mob retreated and returned to continue pillaging files from Stasi headquarters.
As the 1990s progressed, Western [[capital]] and corporate raiders flooded into the country to buy up Soviet assets at bargain basement prices. Prior to the collapse, Soviet enterprises did not operate on the profit motive and received government subsidies, keeping outmoded factories and industries alive while operating at a loss and workers employed. When the subsidies perished with the USSR, the country fell into a deep recession and people were not very enamored toward the transition to capitalism as foreign investors took control of the nation's economy. As in the Dresden incident, Putin's reputation of instinctively standing up to foreign intruders in defense of his country propelled his political rise.
===Domestic policy===
===Domestic policy===