Sebastian Christ: If you want to understand Putin, you have yo know these 15 facts
Russia's President Vladimir Putin speaks at his annual press conference in Moscow on Dec. 19, 2013.
When the crisis in Ukraine first escalated in February, many German experts on Russia were caught off guard. Almost none of them had foreseen that the revolution in Kiev would be followed by the events in Crimea. Not least because many journalists and scientists had misjudged Vladimir Putin.