Putin is a night owl and has an intense morning routine

The Russian president goes for a swim for two hours and tails his workout with some weightlifting

Russia's President Vladimir Putin is a night owl and gets most of his work done at night while he has an intense morning routine, according to The Independent.

The former KGB agent does not roll out of bed until mid-morning, according to a 2014 profile of Putin by Newsweek's Ben Judah. Judah spent a three-year period studying the foreign leader for his book, Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell in and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin.

After waking up late, Putin usually eats breakfast around noon. According to Newsweek, he usually tucks into a large omelette or a big bowl of porridge, with some quail eggs and cottage cheese the side.

In The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin, author Steven Lee Myers adds that The Russian president also drinks a juice made from beets and horseradish.

The breakfast is made with help from one of Putin's political allies. Newsweek reports that the ingredients are "dispatched regularly from the farmland estates of the Patriarch Kirill, Russia's religious leader".



After a post-meal coffee, Putin goes for a swim for two hours and tails his workout with some weightlifting. The well-publicised bouts of exercise are likely intended to create a masculine and tough public image, The Guardian reported.

On a whole, Putin's morning is characterised by solitude. After reviewing a film of Putin's routine, Myers writes that, "His closest companion seemed to be his black Labrador, Koni, who waited poolside as he completed his laps."

By the time his meal and daily exercise are done, it is early afternoon. This is when Putin sits down and begins reading his daily briefings.