Moscow--Russian President Vladimir Putin grew up with tales of how his father battled the Nazis as a Red Army soldier and his mother lived through the punishing siege of Leningrad.
The stories of suffering and survival were similar to those of millions of others of Soviet citizens who experienced the horrors of the war, and they had a major impact on the young boy with a big future.
Now, 70 years after the victory over Germany, the Kremlin strongman is gearing up to host a huge Red Square parade on Saturday for the anniversary of a war that shaped his views on Russia's place in the world as well as sensitive issues like Stalin's leadership and the deal he struck with the Nazis.
Born in 1952 -- more than seven years after the war's end -- Putin himself never experienced the hardships of what Russians still call the Great Patriotic War.
Instead his memories -- recounted in his official biography and numerous interviews -- come from stories that relatives and family friends told over dinner at the family home.
AFP
