REUTERS/Stringer Putin (R) helps put a blanket on Peng Liyuan, wife of China's President Xi Jinping, as they watch watch a lights and fireworks show to celebrate Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Meeting, at National Aquatics Center, or Water Cube, in Beijing, November 10, 2014. Picture taken November 10, 2014. Vladimir Putin may be the wild card in world affairs right now, but he didn't gain that influence overnight.
The Russian President's ascension to power is filled with spies, armed conflicts, oligarchs, oil and (of course) judo.
So here's how a one-time "nobody" climbed up the ranks to become the "World's Most Powerful Person."