You're reading: The Economist: The improbable careers of Vladimir Putin’s bodyguards

Vladimir putin was asleep upstairs when the bear arrived. The Russian president’s bodyguard, Alexey Dyumin, stared at the creature through the glass doors of the mountain home. “It was quite large,” Mr Dyumin later recalled. “I opened the door and emptied my pistol at his legs.” The bear wisely turned and ran.

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