Vladimir Putin 's mysterious family life and reported mega-wealth has come under the spotlight as his country's invasion of Ukraine reaches the one month mark.
The Russian leader, who learned the dark arts of intelligence in east Germany with the KGB, is an intensely private man.
And yet rumours of a vast private income eclipsing that of the world's richest people, secret relationships and a partner hidden from view have circulated for years.
Information has slowly leaked out, despite Putin's command to Russian media outlets that: "I have a private life in which I do not permit interference. It must be respected."
Here is what we known about the Russian president.
The wealth
A $1billion mansion known as 'Putin's Palace' and a £73m superyacht are believed to be highlights of his portfolio - but there are also reports he has 19 other homes, 58 planes and helicopters, 700 cars and a watch collection worth $500,000
The Russian president is even known to have flaunted his power through ownership of outlandish pets - including a tiger called Boris, who he released into the wild on live TV in 2015.
Speaking to the Washington Post, hedge fund manager Bill Browder estimated Putin's wealth was around $200billion USD - but his fortune is surrounded by mystery.
While it's well-known that Putin owns several luxury properties in Russia, one particular mansion reported to belong to the Russian president has turned heads in recent weeks.
The so-called 'Putin's Palace,' which is thought to be worth more than $1 billion, was reportedly built for Putin's personal use.
In January nearly 500 photos of the lavish mansion were published by Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Fund, set up by the outspoken Putin critic who is now in jail.
Georgy Alburov, a researcher for the Foundation, said the palace was decorated in a style similar to that you'd expect from King Louis XIV.
In 2018, Newsweek reported the Russian president had ordered the production of a bulletproof fleet of limos in Russia, estimated to be worth $192 million.
While Putin has no problem showing off how much money he has tied up in assets, he's less forthcoming about where the money came from in the first place.
There have been a number of estimates about just how wealthy Putin and his family is, with one speculating he could be worth as much as up to £160billion.
That would make him richer than Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
Ex-wife
Putin's current relationship status is a bit of a mystery, amid speculation that he moved on very quickly after separating from his wife of 30 years.
He admitted he had a "habit of leading a bachelor's life" until it was uprooted by former air hostess Lyudmila Putina.
They met in their home city of Leningrad, now St Petersburg, when a mutual friend invited Putin to see a play along with several girlfriends.
Putin is said to have hidden that he worked as a KGB spy for much of their three-year courtship and they married in July 1983.
The couple had two daughters, Mariya, in April 1985, and Yekaterina, in August 1986, after they had moved to Germany when Putin was stationed as a Soviet spy.
Working 16 and 17-hour days took its toll on his family life and in June 2013 they announced they were separating just weeks before their 30th wedding anniversary.
Appearing on state television after attending a ballet together, Putin admitted that rumours he and his wife no longer lived together were "true" and she had "done with her shift" as Russia's First Lady.
In the wake of Putin’s Ukraine invasion, Katerina's French holiday home in Biarritz was vandalised with the colours of the Ukrainian flag.
The secret lover
Over the years, Putin has been dogged by rumours of an affair, something which he has always denied.
But they were compounded when political rival Alexi Navalny claimed he had wed former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva in a secret ceremony.
Kabaeva won a gold medal for Russia at the Athens Olympics Games in 2004 before retiring from the sport and entering politics.
Once regarded as Russia's most eligible woman, the only other suitor she has been linked to by the media was a married Georgian policeman but this relationship was said to have petered out by 2005.
Rumours first linked Alina, who is 30 years younger than Putin, romantically to the Russian leader as long ago as 2008 when she was a pro-Kremlin MP.
Many Russians saw her as the reason for the breakup of Putin’s marriage Lyudmila and believed she had become the new Russian First Lady.
There have been frequent reports that Putin is the alleged father of up to five children with Kabaeva, who vanished completely in 2018.
One popular Russian newspaper called her the "First Lady, but in the shadows".
She reportedly gave birth to Putin's son Dmitry in 2008, before a daughter arrived in 2012, another alleged child in 2015 before the birth of twin boys in 2019.
Around the time of the most recent births she was awarded the the country's highest civilian medal "For Merit to the Fatherland" by Putin.
After not being seen for two-and-a-half years, Kabaeva dramatically reappeared in public last summer to renounce Tokyo 2020 judges after Russian star Dina Averina failed to win a gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics.
The children
As for Putin's official children, he likes to keep them away from the cameras and little is known about their lives.
Eldest daughter Maria, 36, has a career in medical research and is an expert on dwarfism, according to reports.
She is married to Dutch businessman, Jorrit Faassen, and is believed to be the mother of Putin's two confirmed grandchildren, who were born in 2012 and 2017.
Meanwhile, Katerina, 35, goes by the family name of her maternal grandmother, Tikhonova, and is a former acrobatic dancer.
She has a degree in physics and mathematic and is now spearheading a major Russian artificial intelligence initiative.
Putin's second eldest daughter was married to Russia’s youngest billionaire, Kirill Shamalov, but they reportedly separated in 2018.
"The thing is, I don’t want them to grow up like hereditary princes, I want them to grow up to be normal people," Putin told Russian TV in 2017.
"If I mention ages and names, they would be identified and never left alone."
One of Putin’s alleged love children was unmasked as Elizaveta Krivonogikh in November 2020.
It has been claimed that her mother Svetlana Krivonogikh, 45, had an affair with the strongman leader when he was head of the FSB counterintelligence service.
Putin's alleged current partner Kabaeva, 38, is said to be "holed up in a very private and very secure chalet in Switzerland," a source told Page Six.
The couple are thought to have had four secret children together, although there has never been any official confirmation of either their relationship or their kids.
"Alina has two young boys and twin girls with Putin who were born in Switzerland," the source added.
"The kids all have Swiss passports, and I imagine she does also."
Kabaeva is now facing calls to be kicked out of Switzerland and deport her to Russia.
A petition to do so has now gained more than 63,000 signatories.
