A TV documentary shown on German channel ZDF portrayed Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as a wife beater. It claimed that Putin regularly beat wife Lyudmila, a former Aeroflot cabin crew.

The basis of the wife-beating story is a secretary in the KGB Dresden office who uses the codename "Lehnchen." The secretary was a friend of Lyudmila, whom Putin divorced in 2013, and the former first lady had intimated the physical abuse to the secretary.

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Other interesting details about Putin, a former KGB spy, includes his regular consumption of cottage cheese for breakfast to stay trim, reports Newsweek. The 62-year-old prime minister, the documentary claimed, is a vain man who secretly had a facelift, which explains his young appearance.

But when he was still living in East Germany as a KGB spy, Putin was overweight, a heavy drinker, lazy and disillusioned, according to Masha Gessen, an author and activist.

Due to his sleeping habits, Putin was often late for appointments and some of ministers waited for him for hours. Once, he even made Queen Elizabeth wait for him for half an hour.

Due to five assassination attempts, Putin is afraid of his own mortality, making him obsessed with power. Gessen considers Putin a threat to the world, as evidenced by the war he started in Ukraine. He adds that Putin's weakness is losing power, which is why "he will do anything to retain it."

His power, besides the military might of the Russian army, could be because of his wealth, estimated at US$200 billion by Bill Browder, Putin's critic. In an interview with CNN, Browder said if his estimate is correct, Putin is now the richest man in the world.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, belied the allegations, saying the documentary is a "complete nonsense."

Tagswife-beater, Russia