An Israeli retired high school teacher will reunite on Thursday with one of her particularly renowned former students – Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mina Yuditzkiya, who immigrated to Israel 32 years ago from the former Soviet Union, taught German to the Russian leader in Leningrad, which later reverted back to its pre-Communist name of St. Petersburg after the end of the Cold War in 1991, and where Putin spent most of his life.
Yuditzkiya said she hasn't seen him since she immigrated to Israel in 1973, three years after Putin graduated from high school.
“But from what I’ve seen on television, he hasn’t changed at all,” she told the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
She said Putin’s officials invited her to meet him at a gala dinner at the David Citadel Hotel, where he is staying during his visit for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders - the first trip to the Jewish state by a Kremlin leader.
"I bought a dress especially for the occasion," she said.