us president donald trump meets russian president vladimir putin in finnish capital helsinki on monday to discuss syria iran election meddling and ukraine among others its the first official meeting between the two who are poles apart in terms of temperament and style putins workingclass family from leningrad background versus trump the fourth of five children born to a wealthy new york real estate developer trump saw his business empire burgeon in the 80s putin a kgb agent at the time watched the soviet union disintegrate from dresden in east germany where he was posted while trumps family are at the core of his personal brand the divorced putin shields his privacy fiercelyhis two daughters have almost never been photographed in public while every aspect of trumps lifefrom his rise as a businessman to reality tv starhas been broadcast little is known about putin that would be his rise through officialdom before boris yeltsin handed him the presidency and the crumbs hes fed russian journalist over the years while trump is often labelled a loose cannon who angrily contradicts his own advisors or even himself his opposite number in the kremlin has never been caught offguard in public and isnt the most emotive the russian president keeps up to date via thick folders of intelligence reports and press summaries on the contrary trumps advisors reportedly struggle to get him to read even the shortest of briefings if the us president is twitterhappy putin does not even own a smartphone according to reports he makes his feelings known via the domestic press in a tweet shortly before he was scheduled to meet the russian president trump appeared to blame the chill in relations with moscow on the investigations into russian interference in his election victoryour relationship with russia has never been worse thanks to many years of us foolishness and stupidity and now the rigged witch hunt trump tweetedany similarities between the two leaders violent streaks during youth wealthy authoritarian tendencies ability to surprise nationalists out to make their nations great again