In post-Soviet Russia...
... spammer pays you.
Russia has reportedly hired a man to develop its national payments system, days after the alleged mastermind of one of the country's biggest pharmacy spam networks was granted early parole. The criminal allegations following Pavel Vrublevsky were prodigious but were largely denied or unconfirmed by the 35 year-old Moscow …
Don't know.
Command of foreign languages - check.
What is the KGB if not the Assassin's Guild?
Belief in a system of government in which various power centres are played off against one another, but the ruler controls both the secret police (Vetinari's clerks) and the elite police - check.
Lady Margoletta von Uberwald - Bundeskanzlerin Frau Doktor Angela Merkel
Certainly comparing Putin to Havelock Vetinari is, if anything, complimentary. Vetinari is the only politician in the books, other than Brutha, who keeps his position while dragging his State into the modern era.
This is proving almost fruitful an analogy as the history of Germany in the last part of the 19th century, with Putin in the von Bismarck role.