Russian Leaders: Young and Fresh

Through the years, most Russian leaders have been viewed as tyrants and dictators. And yet—Lenin, Stalin and Putin weren’t created in a lab and, like most human beings, they had lives before becoming the iron fists of Eurasia. 

We at Bears & Vodka thought you might want to see the humane side of Soviet and Russian leaders. Comments like “Awwww” and “Look how cute!” are welcome.

Vladimir Putin is a former KGB agent. He started at the very bottom in 1970s and became the head of FSS (the Federal Security Service, that in modern Russia accepted most of the KGB functions) in mid-1990s. And we all know what happened next.Russians do not actually kiss on the cheeks three times. It was Leonid Brezhnev, the most passionate of Soviet secretaries, who inspired this stereotype. Some of the people among Mikhail Gorbachev’s entourage spoke of his megalomania. For instance, his suburban residence is said to have a painting of Jesus Christ with Mikhail Gorbachev portrayed as Christ’s shadow. To boot, on his right hand Jesus has a bleeding birthmark, shaped like the one Gorbachev had. Nikita Khrushchev (the first Secretary of the Communist party in 1953-1964), preferred a long shirt with Ukrainian national embroidery to official suits. Vladimir Lenin, the first and most iconic Soviet leader, was baptised an orthodox Christian. Despite that, Soviet regime was far from kind to the church. Dmitry Medvedev was one of the shortest country leaders in the world. He is only 162 cm tall (5 feet 3 inches). Dmitry Medvedev is a huge hard rock and heavy metal fan. He loves Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Blach Sabbath. As an undergraduate, Medvedev was a professional weightlifter. He even won the Leningrad State University competition at his weight category. Vladimir Putin wasn’t a straight A student. He did have C’s at physics, chemistry, algebra and geometry. He was also star of Home Alone. In 1906-1907, Joseph Stalin (born Ioseb Dzhugashvili) was organizing bank robberies in the countries of the South Caucasus region. Once, Joseph Stalin was a young and handsome Georgian poet. Boris Yeltsin was missing two fingers on his left hand. He lost them in childhood, when a grenade he had stolen from a military depot, detonated.
By Max Bears

Not much is known about Max Bears, except for his obsession with the Russian language and Apple products. Sometimes seen on a bicycle around downtown Moscow, he is indistinguishable from the wild bears that roam the streets of Russia's capital.