[white rose]

Does anyone know what his ethnic background is?

I haven't read anything about his background, but I tend to suspect he may be of Latvian descent. (In Latvian, a "putin" is--yes--a bird.)

Plus, he just plain looks Latvian. My mother's family came from that country, so I've seen a lot of Latvian men. They're a...uh...well...distinctive-looking lot. My maternal grandfather, actually, was a dead-ringer for Putin. I'll have to read up on the guy some more and see if I'm right.

[twigs]

Thank you for your reply! Ethnic groups interest me a lot, but I know so little! This may be a difficult question, but how would you characterize how Latvians look? Are they Slavs? In the meantime, I will try to do some 'net research. I did read that Putin was born in Leningrad--is that a Latvian enclave? Thanks!