ABSTRACT
Vladimir Putin was a late child, born into a family of workers on 7 October 1952 in the centre of Leningrad, two tram stops from the central avenue, Nevsky Prospekt and not far from the Griboedov canal. By the time he became president he had spent half his life living in a communal apartment, where several families share basic facilities. In Putin’s case, the house at No. 12 Baskov Lane had been built in 1859 and divided into high quality rented apartments. After the revolution the apartments were divided up to house several families, and the Putins moved there in 1944 at the disposition of the factory where his father worked.2 By the time he was born Putin’s parents were already in their forties, and as a late and only surviving child he was considered a ‘gift for all their earlier sufferings and deprivations’.3
