Who is Vladimir Putin? How Russian president rose from KGB officer

Vladimir Putin's face has left people in fits of laughter, not least the bloke who spotted it.An Aberdeen Angus sizzle steak being sold for £2.99 was photographed on the top shelf of the meat aisle at Aldi in Croydon, south London. Musician Matt Gordon had his mates cracking up over a picture he took of the edible Putin lookalike but joked he stopped short of buying it through fear of repercussions from the Russian president.

McDonald's will slam shut 850 of its restaurants in Russia as backlash to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The massive move which will see civilians unable to order a Big Mac and fries any time soon is one of the latest international sanctions on Russia.

Olga Smirnova, a prima ballerina from Russia, is speaking out against the country’s invasion of Ukraine. A lead dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet, Smirnova said she is "ashamed of Russia" and publicly denounced its president, Vladimir Putin, for giving the order to invade the neighboring country.

Vladimir Putin has not lost his mind and still wants to avoid sparking a nuclear World War 3, according to a former Russian minister. Andrei V Kozyrev who worked at Russia's foreign minister between 1990 and 1996, claims there are three misguided yet rational reasons as to why the country's president ordered an invasion of Ukraine. For all the talk of Putin going insane as he suffers from an alleged terminal illness, the Kremlin believing its own propaganda is more likely to have inspired waging war, Kozyrev says.

fuel prices in at least 18 years due to Russia ’s invasion of Ukraine. The average price of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts rose from 149.2p on February 28 to 153.0p on Monday, according to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.Average diesel prices rose from 153.4p to 158.6p over the same period.The weekly increases of 3.8p for petrol and 5.2p for diesel are the largest in records dating back to June 2003.They mean the cost of filling up a typical 55-litre family car shot up by more than £2 over the past week.Russia is the world's second-biggest producer of crude oil and supplies a third of Europe’s needs.The war has raised fears supplies could be cut, driving up prices.The cost-per-barrel of Brent crude – the most commonly used way of measuring the UK’s oil price – reached $139 (£106) on Monday which was its highest in 14 years.RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding said: "With the tragedy in Ukraine showing no signs of abating it looks like we all need to brace for forecourt prices to continue upward, not least because they tend to lag oil price movements by a week or two.

McDonald's has finally conceded to global pressure and announced it will temporarily close its stores in Russia amid the ongoing Ukraine invasion.

Spotify not working has caused a social media meltdown for music lovers unable to stream.Twitter has become flooded with memes of fury and despair as users struggle to listen to their favourite playlists, podcasts and albums.The popular app going down has become a top trending topic online with people tweeting their rage at not being able to plug in and check if others are suffering the same silence.Conspiracy theories being spread about the platform being hacked by Russians have left people wondering what Vladimir Putin would want with people's playlists.Commenting on a Women's Day post shared three hours earlier, Twitter users have hit out at Spotify with a range of fierce and funny complaints.One person blasted: "Y’all were supposed to shut Russia’s service off not ours.""How dare you crash on international women’s day," another said.Spotify Status which provides updates about the platform's current service said that they were looking into the problem at 6:22pm.The official account which is separate to Spotify's main profile, tweeted: "Something’s not quite right, and we’re looking into it. Thanks for your reports!"Fuelling fears that Spotify has been targeted by hackers, one person commented on the tweet by Spotify Status saying: "Imagine.

Express.co.uk, Karren revealed why she believes Meghan Markle receives such heavy criticism and whether this has anything to do with her challenging gender and bias in her role as a royal.Karren has served as Lord Alan Sugar's assistant on The Apprentice since the show’s sixth series in 2009, having replaced Margaret Mountford.She is also famous for her role as vice-chairman of West Ham United, alongside David Gold and David Sullivan, while she is also a regular writer for the Woman & Home magazine and The Sun.Meanwhile, the Duchess of Sussex is heavily involved in charity work focused primarily on women's issues and social justice.She retired from acting when she married Prince Harry in 2018 and became known as the Duchess of Sussex.In 2020, the pair stepped back as senior members of the royal family and later settled in Meghan's native California.Since their departure from the Royal Family, the couple have received heavy criticism due to their "contradictory" claims against the firm.Express.co.uk asked Karren Brady if she believed Meghan was criticised due to her challenging of gender roles.Karren said: "I think it’s probably because there’s a lot of contradictory things in what she says and what she does."I think lots of people don’t like her to say one thing and do something else."I think that’s probably the main issue."Recently, the ex-royal couple have faced criticism for breaching royal protocol as they spoke out about Russia's attacks in Ukraine.In a statement on their organisation Archewell’s website, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex called for the "global community and its leaders" to join them in condemning Russia, adding that President Vladimir Putin's actions were a breach of "international and humanitarian

Former Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham didn’t hold back in revealing how former PresidentDonald Trump would’ve reacted if he was in a war with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while she guest co-hosted The View on Tuesday March 8. Grisham commended Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for joining his countrymen and battling against Russian forces, as Putin has invaded Ukraine, and she said that the ex-president wouldn’t have done the same in his shoes. “Donald Trump would be 57 feet below ground hiding, and Zelenskyy has been out there fighting,” she said to thunderous applause.

Joe Biden announced that the U.S. will ban imports of Russian oil, the latest move to sanction Vladimir Putin’s regime after its invasion of Ukraine.

Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia ’s leader Vladimir Putin warned anyone “who might be tempted to meddle in the ongoing events” would face “consequences you have never encountered in your history”. Most commentators immediately saw those words as a nuclear threat – but Russia has a wide range of advanced new weapons systems, dubbed Putin’s superoruzhie or “super weapons”, that could have a devastating impact in Ukraine and further afield without risking the inevitable consequences of a nuclear confrontation.

Vladimir Putin is currently the world's most scrutinised man after launching a barbaric attack on Ukraine.The United Nations human rights office said today Putin's orders have caused 1,335 civilian casualties in the war-torn country, including 474 killed and 861 injured. And since Russia's invasion began on February 24, interest into the tyrant behind the senseless killings has grown. Putin has been accused of blowing millions on a harem of mistresses and even of having a lovechild with a woman once dubbed "the most flexible woman in Russia".

Chelsea midfielder Sebastian Kneissl has spoken about Roman Abramovich, saying that, among other things, he once took a penalty against Carlo Cudicini.Kneissl, who joined Chelsea back in 2000, did not make a competitive appearance for the side before moving to Wacker Burghausen.But he told Goal about some of the things he witnessed during his time there, saying that the Russian owner wanted to take a penalty against their number one at the time - Cudicini."He watched our training session and wanted to take a penalty in the end," said Kneissl. "He tried against Carlo Cudicini and you do everything because he's paying you."If Carlo would have saved that penalty, Roman would have paid out his contract with his pocket-money and would have told him to leave!"Abramovich bought Chelsea for £140 million ($184m) in July 2003, paving way for future takeovers of clubs.

stealing from abandoned homes in Ukraine was humiliated by locals, tied to a pole and had his trousers pulled down. His attempts at taking advantage of Russia's invasion backfired dramatically as he was photographed wrapped to a lamp post near to a petrol station in Kyiv.

The letter 'Z' has been seen daubed on the side of Russian tanks as Vladimir Putin's troops launched their invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

Russia and will stop using the country's oil and gas.The company's boss also apologised for buying Russian crude oil last week, seven days after Vladimir Putin launched an attack on Ukraine.In a statement Shell said that apart from no longer buying Russian crude oil, it will also change its crude oil supply chain to remove Russian supplies.It added however that this could take weeks to complete and would lead to reduced throughput at some of its refineries.The FTSE 100 company will also start a phased withdrawal from Russian petroleum products, pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas, the Daily Mirror reports.Shell's statement read: “This is a complex challenge.

There have been claims that Vladimir Putin could be seriously ill, with some suggesting he may have cancer.

Vladimir Putin from her pub and says her customers would "wreck him" if he dared to turn up. Sam Rice, who runs the Loaf and Cheese in Waterloo, has made her rules extremely clear when it comes to the Russian President.

The image of the letter Z has now become a chilling symbol of the Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Lanarkshire MSPs have joined the condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine which has seen so many people flee their homeland.

The £1billion mega-palace allegedly belonging to Vladimir Putin can be seen on Google Maps.