PUTIN'S CROSS

VLADIMIR PUTIN (NICKNAME "VOLODYA") CALLS IT A REVELATION


I visited St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Russia in 2002, a year after opening her door to foreign tourists and to celebrate the anniversary founding of the city by Peter the Great.  I've seen some of the Orthodox churches (Sts. Peter & Paul Church, Church of Spilt Blood among the famous ones) built before the days of Czar Nicholas II, then closed during the Russian Revolution and then revived thereafter the fall of USSR, no longer a "godless communist" country, and became the Russian Republic.  From 1922 to 1991 the Soviet Union is a Communist Nation.  In 1952 his mother, an Orthodox Christian, defied the authorities and secretly had the new baby baptized, or accepted into the Christian church.  His father was an atheist.
Putin's Cross is made of simple aluminum.  His mother gave it to him when he first visited Israel for the first time as an official invitation by the Minister of Foreign Affair.  She gave the cross to him to have a blessing at the Tomb of the Lord.  The second time he traveled as a tourist with his family.

In 1996, after six years of building and constructing his dacha (extra house) near St. Petersburg was finally finished.  The 2-level home was spacious - the second floor had a balcony overlooking the green forest and the first floor had a banya, a traditional Russian sauna.  He invited a family friend to show his new home and sauna.  Putin took off the cross before entering the sauna.  They then went to swim in nearby river but upon their return saw the dacha on fire.  The dacha burned to the ground.  Through the ashes one of the workers muddling at the remnants of the fire found the cross intact.  The cause of the fire was bad wirings that he did in the sauna.  Since then he wore the cross, "I did so and now it's with me always."

I think President George W. Bush probably knew about this incident in the life of President Vladimir Putin that he said after their first meeting in June 2001, "I looked the man in the eye.  I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue.  I was able to get a sense of his soul.  He's a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country and I appreciate very much the frank dialogue and that's the beginning of a very constructive relationship."
Putin's belief is achieving the ultimate goal - "comfort in our own heart."

A Russian Dacha

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Putin's mother Maria

Young Vlad

Former wife Lyudmila (divorced)

At the Taj Mahal on happier days

Attending Mass with former wife Lyudmila at Christ the Savior Church in Moscow

New girlfiend Alina

Two of Putin's Favorite Actors

Steven Seagal, a submarine cook and sailor

Jean Claude Van Damme, the muscle from Brussels