Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin has ruled Russia since 1999, as president or prime minister, longer than any leader since Stalin. Born in Leningrad in 1952 to parents who had survived the siege — an elder brother died in it — he grew up in a communal flat, took up judo, and studied law at Leningrad State University before joining the KGB in 1975. He served in Dresden in East Germany from 1985, and was there in 1989 when crowds surrounded the Stasi building; he later described burning documents and receiving no instructions from Moscow, an experience he has returned to. He entered politics under the reformist mayor of St Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak, moved to Moscow in 1996, headed the FSB in 1998, and was made prime minister by Boris Yeltsin in August 1999. Apartment bombings that September, blamed on Chechens, preceded the second Chechen war, which he prosecuted ruthlessly and which made him popular. Yeltsin resigned on 31 December 1999, handing him the presidency. His first two terms coincided with high oil prices, and living standards rose sharply. He also took control of the independent television networks, jailed or exiled the oligarchs who resisted — Mikhail Khodorkovsky served ten years — and centralised power over the regions. He swapped roles with Dmitry Medvedev in 2008 to observe term limits, returned in 2012 amid the largest protests of his rule, and had the constitution amended in 2020 to allow him to stay until 2036. He fought Georgia in 2008, annexed Crimea in 2014, intervened in Syria in 2015, and launched a full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The ICC issued a warrant for him in 2023.
- Lived: 1952 CE – ?
- Nationality: Russian
- Roles: President of the Russian Federation (1999-2008, 2012-present), Prime Minister (2008-2012)
