Russian journalist Oleg Blotsky holds his book entitled "Vladimir Putin: Life Story" during a news conference in Moscow, January 21, 2002.

It is a scrupulously unbiased snapshot of Vladimir Putin if you believe the author of the first volume of a Kremlin-backed trilogy on Putin's life, written in the unmistakable style the Soviets once reserved for Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin.

"I do not think it is a eulogy. I simply conveyed what people (who met Putin) said," Oleg Blotsky told a news conference on Monday as he posed for photos with his "Vladimir Putin".

The book, complete with a genealogical tree back to the beginning of the 18th century and a chapter dedicated to Putin's ancestors, spans from his birth to the start of his career as a KGB spy.

Putin contributed to the work with extensive interviews to Blotsky.The result is a selection of memories by Putin's friends and acquaintances who hold nothing but the warmest recollections of him. The only person in the book who does not heap praise on the president is Putin himself, who is characteristically humble.

Praise bestowed on the Kremlin leader ranges from young judoist Putin fighting "like a snow leopard" to many years later his being visibly moved when decorated war veterans in the Kremlin stood up in salute as he entered the hall.

It opens with the Kremlin munificently answering an old woman's plea -- addressed in a letter to "V. V. Putin, the Kremlin, Moscow" -- to help erect a decent tombstone on the grave of Putin's first teacher.

Putin smiles as he poses with teenagers during his visit to the Russian Olympic national ski team

One account portrays Putin as a man who would stop at nothing to win a fight. "He would scratch, bite, snatch tufts of hair, do anything to avoid being humiliated in any way," an old friend said. But young Putin is also an ordinary boy, frightened by a looming visit to the dentist.

The book is written in simple easy-to-read Russian.

Blotsky said neither Putin nor any other Kremlin official ever sought to censor his work or steer it in a specific direction. Putin only read the book when it hit shop shelves last week, he said.

The book's first run of 15,000 copies was selling well in Moscow shops and China, Bulgaria and Slovenia have shown an interest in issuing a translation, the publisher said.

Blotsky, who said he was a converted Putinist after his audiences with the president, said he was already working on the second volume of his series "Vladimir Putin: Rise to Power".

(Agencies)