"How tall is the leader of Russia: Putin?"

Dear ronsteele,

Vladimir Putin is known for making a bit of a secret of his height,
since he is not very tall. However, I found this about Putin's time as
KGB officer in East Germany:

"3,8 Liter Bier pro Woche soll Putin damals getrunken haben. Der nur
1,72 m große Putin nahm heftig zu - bis er schließlich 85 Kilogramm
wog."

Which means translated to English:
"Reportedly, Putin drank 3.8 liters beer per week in that time. Putin,
only 1.72 meters tall, gained notably weight - until he weighed 85
kilograms."

Another German source says:

"Onkel Wowa, wie russische Kids Wladimir Putin nennen dürfen, bringt
es auf knapp 1,70 m lichte Höhe."

In English:
"Uncle Vova, as Russian kids may call Vladimir Putin, reaches only a
height of 1.70 meters."

So obviously, the Russian president is approximately 1.71 meters tall.

Sources:

Putinseite.com: Wladimir Wladimirowitsch Putin - Biographie, by
Beatrix Menz (in German)
http://www.putinseite.com/biographie.html

Tagesspiegel Online: Wladimir Putin, by Elke Windisch, 2000 (in
German, Google Cache)
http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:5XcS--_ZGHEC:195.170.124.152/archiv/2000/07/25/ak-po-eu-28874.html+%22wladimir+putin%22+%221,70%22&hl=de&ie=UTF-8

Search terms used:
"wladimir putin" "1,70":
://www.google.com/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22wladimir+putin%22+%221%2C70%22&lr=
"wladimir putin" "1,72":
://www.google.com/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22wladimir+putin%22+%221%2C72%22&lr=

Hope this answers your question!
Regards,
Scriptor

Great answer. Ron

Several years ago, I saw a list of famous leaders who were of short
stature (I believe 5' 6" and under).  If I remember correctly, Lenin,
Stalin, and Khrushchev were all on this list.  My impression was that
Gorbachev was fairly short too.  So, relatively speaking, it seems
that Putin is on the tall side.