if he is not a killer, he has certainly cultivated that aspect of his public image

Has he? While I certainly wouldn't go so far as to say I "trust" Putin, the fact that the all the bad guys hate him, and there has been an absolutely massive propaganda to campaign to try and make me hate him similar to the propaganda campaign against Trump, makes me suspicious that there might be a lot we don't know.

Or to put it another way, I trust nothing that I hear from the world, particularly from Western Europe who are a bunch of self-interested liars. If Trump's experience taught me anything, it taught me to trust nothing that isn't a primary source and isn't proven by six other primary sources.

If the bad guys hate Putin, there must be a reason, and it might be that Putin doesn't play ball with them.