A new book by independent news outlet 'Proekt' journalists Roman Badanin and Mikhail Rubin, 'The Tsar in Propria Persona', alleges that Vladimir Putin's parents married after a violent incident in the late 1920s that cost his mother, Maria ('Marusya'), an eye — and that this episode helps explain why the Kremlin has long kept Putin's private life out of public view.
The investigation-led volume aims to pierce decades of secrecy surrounding the Russian leader's inner circle and origins.
