Saint Petersburg State University is the oldest and one of the largest universities in Russia. Its law school is regarded as the best in the country. The school is renowned for cultivating some of the biggest names in Russian history. Vladimir Putin is one of those. 

In 1970, Putin became a law student at Saint Petersburg State University, earning his degree in 1975. 

CGTN's senior correspondent Tian Wei sat down with two professors who taught Putin when he was a student there. The professors, who come from different generations in Russia, gave different remarks about Putin.

Yuriy Kirillovich Tolstoy, an honorary professor of St. Petersburg State University speaks highly of Putin, saying that he is a leader who has more control of Russia. "I think it's important for our different authorities to understand that real democracy is impossible without strong leadership because otherwise the power would have weakened and disintegrated."

Professor Tolstoy takes the history of Russia as an example to illustrate the importance of strong leadership. "A good example is the tragedy of our country in the 1990s. In that decade we didn’t understand that unraveling power leads to tragic consequences. In those years, people like Gorbachev and Yeltsin couldn't grasp this reality."

He also suggests that Russia should learn from China's experience in history. "I respected what Deng Xiaoping did to overcome all the mistakes that had been made. He managed to overcome them while preventing the disintegration of power. Regardless of what people think, I think this sparked China's progress. It's very important to learn our lessons and learn from each other."

The Faculty of Law is one of the oldest faculties at St. Petersburg State University. When Putin studied there as a student, he enjoyed access to different academic approaches and teaching styles thanks to his teachers, including professor Dzhenevra Igorevna Lukovskaya, who was almost as young as his student then. According to what she said about Putin, it seems that Putin was a more experienced student when compared with this fresh young teacher. 

"He was quite young because he entered university when he was 17 because some people tend to enroll after the army, but he did it after school. So he was 21, the youngest in the class and I was approximately 30," said professor Lukovskaya.