Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has been the President of Russia since 7 May 2012. He previously served as President from 2000 to 2008, and as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. During his last term as Prime Minister, he was also the Chairman of the United Russia political party. More
For 16 years Putin served as an officer in the KGB, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before he retired to enter politics in his native Saint Petersburg in 1991. He moved to Moscow in 1996 and joined President Boris Yeltsin's administration where he rose quickly, becoming Acting President on 31 December 1999 when Yeltsin resigned unexpectedly. Putin won the subsequent 2000 presidential election and was re-elected in 2004. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was ineligible to run for a third consecutive presidential term in 2008. Dmitry Medvedev won the 2008 presidential election and appointed Putin as Prime Minister, beginning a period of so-called "tandemocracy". In September 2011, following a change in the law extending the presidential term from four years to six, Putin announced that he would seek a third, non-consecutive term as President in the 2012 presidential election, an announcement which led to large-scale protests in many Russian cities. He won the election in March 2012 and is serving a six-year term.
Vladimir Putin timeline
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Vladimir Putin is Born
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born on 7 October 1952, in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (modern day Saint Petersburg, Russia), to parents... Read more
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Vladimir Putin Joins the KGB
Putin joined the KGB in 1975 upon graduation, and underwent a year's training at the 401st KGB school in Okhta, Leningrad. He then went on to work... Read more
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Vladimir Putin Works in Saint Petersburg City Administration
In May 1990, Putin was appointed Mayor Sobchak's advisor on international affairs. On 28 June 1991, he was appointed head of the Committee for... Read more
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Vladimir Putin is Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department
In 1996, Anatoly Sobchak lost the Saint Petersburg mayoral election to Vladimir Yakovlev. Putin was called to Moscow and in June 1996 became a... Read more
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Vladimir Putin Appointed Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff
On 26 March 1997, President Boris Yeltsin appointed Putin deputy chief of Presidential Staff, which he remained until May 1998, and chief of the... Read more
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Vladimir Putin Appointed Head of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB)
In 1998 Boris Yeltsin appointed as director of the FSB Vladimir Putin, a KGB veteran who would later succeed Yeltsin as federal president. Putin... Read more
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Vladimir Putin Elected President of Russia
Vladimir Putin was inaugurated president on 7 May 2000. He appointed Minister of Finance Mikhail Kasyanov as his Prime minister. Having announced... Read more
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President Obama Arrives in Moscow to Discuss Arms Controls
The United States and Russia, seeking to move forward on one of the most significant arms control treaties since the end of the cold war, have... Read more
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Massive Anti-Government Protest Erupts in Russia
Via a Facebook group "Суббота на Болотной площади" (Saturday at Bolotnaya Square), a call was made for a mass protest against the government on... Read more