Vladimir Putin

"Putin" redirects here. For other uses, see Putin (disambiguation).

Vladimir Putin
Владимир Путин
Putin in 2024
President of Russia
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 May 2012
Prime Minister
Preceded byDmitry Medvedev
In office
7 May 2000 – 7 May 2008
Acting: 31 December 1999 – 7 May 2000
Prime Minister
Preceded byBoris Yeltsin
Succeeded byDmitry Medvedev
Prime Minister of Russia
In office
8 May 2008 – 7 May 2012
PresidentDmitry Medvedev
First Deputy
Preceded byViktor Zubkov
Succeeded byViktor Zubkov (acting)
In office
9 August 1999 – 7 May 2000
PresidentBoris Yeltsin
First Deputy
Preceded bySergei Stepashin
Succeeded byMikhail Kasyanov
Secretary of the Security Council of Russia
In office
9 March 1999 – 9 August 1999
ChairmanBoris Yeltsin
Preceded byNikolay Bordyuzha
Succeeded bySergei Ivanov
Director of the Federal Security Service
In office
25 July 1998 – 29 March 1999
PresidentBoris Yeltsin
Preceded byNikolay Kovalyov
Succeeded byNikolai Patrushev
First Deputy Chief of the Presidential Administration
In office
25 May 1998 – 24 July 1998
PresidentBoris Yeltsin
Deputy Chief of the Presidential Administration – Head of the Main Supervisory Department
In office
26 March 1997 – 24 May 1998
PresidentBoris Yeltsin
Preceded byAlexei Kudrin
Succeeded byNikolai Patrushev
Personal details
Born
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

(1952-10-07) 7 October 1952 (age 72)
Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Political partyIndependent
(1991–1995, 2001–2008, 2012–present)
Other political
affiliations
Height170 cm (5 ft 7 in)
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1983; div. 2014)​
[a]
ChildrenAt least 2, Maria and Katerina[b]
RelativesPutin family
Residence(s)Novo-Ogaryovo, Moscow
Alma mater
AwardsFull list
Signature
Websiteeng.putin.kremlin.ru
Military service
AllegianceSoviet Union
Russia
Branch/service
Years of service
  • 1975–1991
  • 1997–1999
  • 2000–present
Rank
CommandsSupreme Commander-in-Chief
Battles/wars
Vladimir Putin's voice
Putin declaring a "special military operation" in Ukraine
Recorded 24 February 2022
This article is part of
a series about
Vladimir Putin
  • Political offices
  • Policies
  • Elections

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin[c][d] (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who is the president of Russia, serving since 2012 and previously from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as prime minister from 1999 to 2000[e] and again from 2008 to 2012:[f][7] He is the longest-serving Russian or Soviet leader since Joseph Stalin.

Putin worked as a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He resigned in 1991 to begin a political career in Saint Petersburg. In 1996, he moved to Moscow to join the administration of President Boris Yeltsin. He briefly served as the director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and then as secretary of the Security Council of Russia before being appointed prime minister in August 1999. Following Yeltsin's resignation, Putin became acting president and, in less than four months, was elected to his first term as president. He was reelected in 2004. Due to constitutional limitations of two consecutive presidential terms, Putin served as prime minister again from 2008 to 2012 under Dmitry Medvedev. He returned to the presidency in 2012, following an election marked by allegations of fraud and protests, and was reelected in 2018.

During Putin's initial presidential tenure, the Russian economy grew on average by seven percent per year,[8] driven by economic reforms and a fivefold increase in the price of oil and gas.[9][10] Additionally, Putin led Russia in a conflict against Chechen separatists, reestablishing federal control over the region.[11][12] While serving as prime minister under Medvedev, he oversaw a military conflict with Georgia and enacted military and police reforms. In his third presidential term, Russia annexed Crimea and supported a war in eastern Ukraine through several military incursions, resulting in international sanctions and a financial crisis in Russia. He also ordered a military intervention in Syria to support his ally Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian civil war, ultimately securing permanent naval bases in the Eastern Mediterranean.[13][14][15]

In February 2022, during his fourth presidential term, Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which prompted international condemnation and led to expanded sanctions. In September 2022, he announced a partial mobilization and forcibly annexed four Ukrainian oblasts, together roughly the size of Portugal, into Russia. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes[16] related to his alleged criminal responsibility for illegal child abductions during the war.[17] In April 2021, after a referendum, he signed into law constitutional amendments that included one allowing him to run for reelection twice more, potentially extending his presidency to 2036.[18][19] In March 2024, he was reelected to another term.

Under Putin's rule, the Russian political system has been transformed into an authoritarian dictatorship with a personality cult.[20][21][22] His rule has been marked by endemic corruption and widespread human rights violations, including the imprisonment and suppression of political opponents, intimidation and censorship of independent media in Russia, and a lack of free and fair elections.[23][24][25] Russia has consistently received very low scores on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, The Economist Democracy Index, Freedom House's Freedom in the World index, and the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index.

  1. ^ "Vladimir Putin quits as head of Russia's ruling party". 24 April 2012. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference RFERL080418 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYT120505 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Proekt201125 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Times190526 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference SonntagsZeitung was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Timeline: Vladimir Putin – 20 tumultuous years as Russian President or PM". Reuters. 9 August 2019. Archived from the original on 29 November 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  8. ^ Kramer, Andrew E. (18 February 2020). "Pessimistic Outlook in Russia Slows Investment, and the Economy". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 15 February 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Putin 2007 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Fragile Empire 2013 page 17 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "Fighting in volatile Chechnya kills 13 rebels, police: agency". Reuters. 24 January 2013. Archived from the original on 9 September 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  12. ^ "Putin Warns 'Mistakes' Could Bring Back '90s Woes". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 17 October 2011. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  13. ^ Borshchevskaya, Anna (2022). Putin's War in Syria. I. B. Tauris. pp. 70, 71, 80, 81, 157, 169, 171, 174. ISBN 978-0-7556-3463-7.
  14. ^ "Russia carries out first air strikes in Syria". Al Jazeera. 30 September 2015. Archived from the original on 30 September 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  15. ^ Geukjian, Ohannes (2022). "5: Russian Diplomacy, War, and Peace Making, 2017–19". The Russian Military Intervention in Syria. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 196. ISBN 978-0-2280-0829-3.
  16. ^ "Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova". International Criminal Court. Archived from the original on 17 March 2023. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  17. ^ "International court issues war crimes warrant for Putin". AP News. 17 March 2023. Archived from the original on 17 March 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  18. ^ Odynova, Alexandra (5 April 2021). "Putin signs law allowing him to serve 2 more terms as Russia's president". CBS News. Archived from the original on 12 February 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  19. ^ "Putin – already Russia's longest leader since Stalin – signs law that may let him stay in power until 2036". USA Today. Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  20. ^ Plokhy, Serhii (16 May 2023). The Russo-Ukrainian War: From the bestselling author of Chernobyl. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1-80206-179-6. Archived from the original on 30 October 2023. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  21. ^ Zavadskaya, Margarita (2023). "Russia: Nations in Transit 2023 Country Report". Freedom House. Archived from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 25 March 2024. In Russia, national governance represents outright authoritarianism, dominated by widespread oppression and large-scale corruption among the top elites. The 2022 invasion of Ukraine has set the Russian regime on a further downward spiral, making it one of the most notorious personalist dictatorships in the world.
  22. ^ Kovalev, Alexey (26 March 2024). "Russia Is Returning to Its Totalitarian Past". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 10 March 2024. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  23. ^ Gill, Graeme (2016). Building an Authoritarian Polity: Russia in Post-Soviet Times (hardback ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-13008-1. Archived from the original on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  24. ^ Reuter, Ora John (2017). The Origins of Dominant Parties: Building Authoritarian Institutions in Post-Soviet Russia (E-book ed.). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316761649. ISBN 978-1-316-76164-9. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  25. ^ Frye, Timothy (2021). Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin's Russia. Princeton University Press. p. [page needed]. ISBN 978-0-691-21246-3. Archived from the original on 25 February 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2023.


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