7 things you need to know about Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has won over a lot of people recently with his role in avoiding an escalation of the war in Syria and by refusing to hand Edward Snowden back to the US. He’s also created an image of himself as a strong, brave politician. But with these couple of successes, it’s easy to forget he’s got a fairly poor record of protecting human rights, equality in gender and sexuality, freedom of the press and many of the basic principles of democracy. Here’s seven things you shouldn’t forget about Vladimir Putin.