Vladimir Putin is a Russian politician who is famous for being the president of Russia, a position he has filled since 2012, and previously from 1999 until 2008. He is also a former intelligence officer. He was also the prime minister from 1999 to 2000, and again from 2008 to 2012. In addition, he is the second-longest current serving European president after Alexander Lukashenko. His early career started by working as a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel, before resigning in 1991 to begin a political career in Saint Petersburg. Then, he moved to Moscow in 1996 to join the administration of President Boris Yeltsin. After the resignation of Yeltsin, Putin became acting president, and less than four months later was elected outright to his first term as president and was reelected in 2004. He served as prime minister again from 2008 to 2012 under Dmitry Medvedev. He returned to the presidency in 2012 in an election marred by allegations of fraud and protests; he has reelected again in 2018. In April 2021, following a referendum, he signed into law constitutional amendments including one that would allow him to run for reelection twice more, potentially extending his presidency to 2036. During his fourth term as president, the COVID-19 pandemic hit Russia, and Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, leading to further sanctions being imposed against Russia and him personally. Recently on 25th February 2022, Russia hits a missile in Ukraine at 4 am. He has also been honored with several notable distinctions like Légion d’honneur by France, Order of Friendship by China, and Order of Abdulaziz al Saud by Saudi Arabia. He has often been described as a dictator and autocrat and his 3rd term as the president became unpopular among a growing number of Russians.
Vladimir Putin puts nuclear forces on high alert, escalating tensions
President of Russia, Vladimir Putin dramatically escalated East-West tensions by ordering Russian nuclear forces put on high alert Sunday, while Ukraine’s embattled leader agreed to talks with Moscow as Putin’s troops and tanks drove deeper into the country, closing in around the capital. Citing “aggressive statements” by NATO and tough financial sanctions, Putin issued a directive to increase the readiness of Russia’s nuclear weapons, raising fears that the invasion of Ukraine could lead to nuclear war, whether by design or mistake. Putin is “potentially putting in play forces that, if there’s a miscalculation, could make things much, much more dangerous,” said a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss rapidly unfolding military operations. Putin’s directive came as Russian forces encountered strong resistance from Ukraine defenders. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, meanwhile, announced plans for a meeting with a Russian delegation at an unspecified location on the Belarusian border. By late Sunday, Russian forces had taken Berdyansk, a Ukrainian city of 100,000 on the Azov Sea coast, according to Oleksiy Arestovich, an adviser to Zelenskyy’s office.
What is Vladimir Putin Known For?
- Being a Russian politician and former intelligence officer.
- Being the president of Russia, a position he has filled since 2012, and previously from 1999 until 2008.
- Being the second-longest current serving European president after Alexander Lukashenko.
Where is Vladimir Putin From?
Vladimir Putin was born with the birth name of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Born on 7th October 1952, Vladimir is from Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg, Russia). He was born to his father, Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin, and his wife, Maria Ivanovna Putina. His dad was a conscript in the Soviet Navy, serving in the submarine fleet in the early 1930s whereas his mom was a factory worker. Early in World War II, his father served in the destruction battalion of the NKVD. Later, he was transferred to the regular army and was severely wounded in 1942. He also has two siblings; Viktor (Late Older Brother) (Died in infancy), Albert (Late Older Brother) (Died of diphtheria during the Siege of Leningrad in World War II). Spiridon Putin, Vladimir Putin’s grandfather, was a personal cook to Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. maternal grandmother was killed by the German occupiers of the Tver region in 1941, and his maternal uncles disappeared on the Eastern Front during World War II. He holds Russian nationality and his ethnicity is Russian-White. Libra is his zodiac sign and he follows the Christianity religion. Putin celebrated his 69th birthday as of 2021.
About his education, he initially attended Primary School No. 193 located at Baskov Lane during 1960-1968. Then, he joined High School No. 281, and also he took interest in sports like sambo (a martial art form) and judo. Next, he attended Leningrad State University (later Saint Petersburg State University) in 1970, and there he studied Law. As a student, he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. During the same time, he encountered the Russian politician Anatoly Sobchak. He graduated from the university in 1975 and his thesis was on “The Most Favored Nation Trading Principle in International Law”. In addition, he also attended Saint Petersburg Mining Institute.
Vladimir Putin Career Timeline and Life Story
KGB Career
- Vladimir Putin, after his graduation from law school, joined the KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti) and trained at the 401st KGB school in Okhta, Leningrad.
- After his training, he worked in the Second Chief Directorate (counter-intelligence), before he was transferred to the First Chief Directorate, where he monitored foreigners and consular officials in Leningrad.
- Next, he was sent to Moscow for further training at the Yuri Andropov Red Banner Institute in September 1984.
- During the period 1985-90, he operated in the Dresden city of East Germany as an undercover agent.
- After the collapse of the Communist East German government, Putin was to resign from active KGB service because of suspicions aroused regarding his loyalty during demonstrations in Dresden.
- In the year 1990, he traveled back to Leningrad and was appointed to the Leningrad State University as the rector, in which capacity he handled international relations. There, he looked for new KGB recruits.
- He claims that he resigned with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel on 20 August 1991, on the second day of the 1991 Soviet coup d’état attempt against the Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. He said: “As soon as the coup began, I immediately decided which side I was on”, although he also noted that the choice was hard because he had spent the best part of his life with “the organs”.
- In 1999, he described communism as “a blind alley, far away from the mainstream of civilization”.
Source: @instagram.com/leadervladimirputin
Political Career
- Putin was appointed as an advisor on international affairs to the Mayor of Leningrad Anatoly Sobchak in May 1990.
- He became head of the Committee for External Relations of the Mayor’s Office, with responsibility for promoting international relations and foreign investments and registering business ventures on 28th June 1991.
- From 1994 to 1996, he held several other political and governmental positions in Saint Petersburg.
- Next, he was appointed as First Deputy Chairman of the Government of Saint Petersburg in March 1994.
- He then organized the Saint Petersburg branch of the pro-government Our Home – Russia political party, the liberal party of power founded by Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin in May 1995 and managed the legislative election campaign for that party, and from 1995 through June 1997, he was the leader of its Saint Petersburg branch.
- He shifted to Moscow in the year 1996, along with his family, and there he was appointed to the Presidential Property Management Directorate as the Deputy Chief on 26th March 1997 by Boris Yeltsin.
- In 1998, he joined the Presidential Executive Office as the Deputy Chief of Staff and also Chief of Main Control Directorate.
- He became the First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office in 1998, and the same year, he joined the office as the Director of the Federal Security Service. The following year, he became the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.
- On 31st December 1999, Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned and, according to the Constitution of Russia, Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation. The first Presidential Decree that Putin signed, on 31 December 1999, was titled “On guarantees for the former president of the Russian Federation and the members of his family”.
- While his opponents had been preparing for an election in June 2000, Yeltsin’s resignation resulted in the presidential elections being held within three months, on 26 March 2000; Putin won in the first round with 53% of the vote.
- The inauguration of President Putin occurred on 7th May 2000. Putin appointed the Minister of Finance, Mikhail Kasyanov, as the Prime Minister.
- Between 2000 and 2004, Putin set about the reconstruction of the impoverished condition of the country.
- On 14th March 2004, Putin was elected to the presidency for a second term, receiving 71% of the vote.
- The near 10-year period prior to the rise of Putin after the dissolution of Soviet rule was a time of upheaval in Russia.
- In a 2005 Kremlin speech, Putin characterized the collapse of the Soviet Union as the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the Twentieth Century.”
- In 2005, the National Priority Projects were launched to improve Russia’s health care, education, housing, and agriculture.
- As per the Russian constitution, he was ineligible to run for the presidency for the third consecutive term.
- In 2008, Dmitry Medvedev ran for the office of the President and won the election. Medvedev appointed Vladimir Putin as the Prime Minister of Russia.
- In 2011, the presidential term was extended from four years to six years. In 2012, Putin once again contested the presidential election and won by polling 64% of the vote. His presidency was inaugurated in the Kremlin on 7th May 2012.
- In 2012 and 2013, Putin and the United Russia party backed stricter legislation against the LGBT community, in Saint Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, and Novosibirsk; a law called the Russian gay propaganda law, that is against “homosexual propaganda” (which prohibits such symbols as the rainbow flag as well as published works containing homosexual content) was adopted by the State Duma in June 2013.
- In 2014, Russia made several military incursions into Ukrainian territory.
- Demonstrations against Ukrainian Rada legislative actions by pro-Russian groups in the Donbas area of Ukraine escalated into an armed conflict between the Ukrainian government and the Russia-backed separatist forces of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.
- In August Russian military vehicles crossed the border in several locations of Donetsk Oblast.
- In November 2014, the Ukrainian military reported intensive movement of troops and equipment from Russia into the separatist-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine.
- In December 2015, Russian Federation President Putin admitted that Russian military intelligence officers were operating in Ukraine.
- Putin authorized Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war on 30th September 2015 following a formal request by the Syrian government for military help against rebel and jihadist groups.
- After Putin’s announcement on 14 March 2016 that the mission he had set for the Russian military in Syria had been “largely accomplished” and ordered the withdrawal of the “main part” of the Russian forces from Syria, Russian forces deployed in Syria continued to actively operate in support of the Syrian government.
- In 2018, he was re-elected for the fourth term as the President. He got 76% of the votes and will be in office till 2024.
- His fourth term began on 7th May 2018. On the same day, he invited Dmitry Medvedev to form a new government.
- On 18th May 2018, he signed decrees on the composition of the new Government. On 14th June 2018, he opened the 21st FIFA World Cup, which took place in Russia for the first time.
- On 15th January 2020, Dmitry Medvedev and his entire government resigned after Vladimir Putin’s Address to the Federal Assembly.
- On 15th March 2020, Putin was instructed to form a Working Group of the State Council to counteract the spread of coronavirus. He appointed Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin as the head of the Group.
- According to Dmitry Peskov, Putin passes daily tests for coronavirus, and his health is not in danger.
- On 25th March, Putin announced in a televised address to the nation that the 22 April constitutional referendum would be postponed due to the coronavirus. He also announced a list of measures of social protection, support for small and medium-sized enterprises, and changes in fiscal policy.
- In addition, he announced the following measures for microenterprises, small- and medium-sized businesses: deferring tax payments (except Russia’s value-added tax) for the next six months, cutting the size of social security contributions in half, deferring social security contributions, deferring loan repayments for the next six months, a six-month moratorium on fines, debt collection, and creditors’ applications for bankruptcy of debtor enterprises.
- He also likened Russia’s fight against COVID-19 to Russia’s battles with invading Pecheneg and Cuman steppe nomads in the 10th and 11th centuries.
- In June 2021, Putin said he was fully vaccinated against the disease with the Sputnik V vaccine.
- Next, he signed an executive order on 3rd July 2020 to officially insert amendments into the Russian Constitution, allowing him to run for two additional six-year terms.
- On 22nd December 2020, he signed a bill giving lifetime prosecutorial immunity to Russian ex-presidents.
- In September 2021, Ukraine conducted military exercises with NATO forces.
- On 30th November 2021, he stated that an expansion of NATO’s presence in Ukraine, especially the deployment of any long-range missiles capable of striking Russian cities or missile defense systems similar to those in Romania and Poland, would be a “red line” issue for the Kremlin.
- Putin asked President Joe Biden for legal guarantees that NATO wouldn’t expand eastward or put “weapons systems that threaten us in close vicinity to Russian territory.”
- In December 2021, a Levada Center poll found that about 50% of Russians believed the U.S. and NATO are to blame for the Russo-Ukrainian crisis, while 16% blamed Ukraine and just 4% blamed Russia.
- On 7 February 2022, retired Russian Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov, who is active in politics as the chairman of the All-Russian Officers Assembly, publicly called for Putin to resign over threats of a “criminal” invasion of Ukraine.
- In February 2022, Putin warned that Ukraine’s accession to NATO could embolden Ukraine to reclaim control over Russian-annexed Crimea or areas ruled by pro-Russian separatists in Donbas, saying “Imagine that Ukraine is a NATO member and a military operation [to regain Crimea] begins. What – are we going to fight with NATO? Has anyone thought about this?”
- On 7 February 2022, Putin said at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron that “A number of [Macron’s] ideas, proposals … are possible as a basis for further steps. We will do everything to find compromises that suit everyone.” Putin promised not to carry out new military initiatives near Ukraine.
- On 15th February 2022, the Russian parliament’s lower chamber, the State Duma, backed a resolution calling for diplomatic recognition of two self-proclaimed separatist republics in Donbas.
- On 21st February, he signed a decree recognizing the separatist republics as independent states.
- On 24th February, he in a televised address announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine, launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggested Putin could face war crimes charges and said that the UK and its allies are working to set up a “particular international war crimes tribunal for those involved in war crimes in the Ukraine theatre.” As a result of the invasion, further sanctions were introduced against Russia, including against Putin personally. In response to the sanctions, he put the Strategic Rocket Forces nuclear deterrence units on high alert.
Source: @instagram.com/leadervladimirputin
Awards and Achievements
- Achieved the Bronze Medal for Faithful Service to the National People’s Army issued by the German Democratic Republic in 1989
- Felicitated with the Grand-Croix (Grand Cross) by the President of France, Jacques Chirac in 2006
- Named Person of the Year by Time magazine in 2007
- Recipient of the King Abdul Aziz Award in 2007 by Saudi King Abdullah
- Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Award by the president of the UAE in 2007
- Honorary doctorate by the University of Belgrade
Vladimir Putin Wife: Who is his girlfriend or partner?
Vladimir Putin was a married man. On 28th July 1983, Putin married his wife, Lyudmila Shkrebneva after a courtship of about three years. Lyudmila Putina once worked as a flight attendant, a highly coveted job in the Soviet era. They met in the early 1980s when a mutual friend invited them both to the theatre. “I became friends with Lyuda, my future wife,” Putin recalled in what The Washington Post described as a “passionless account” on his former presidential website. “I understood that if I didn’t marry for another two or three years, I would never marry. Though, of course, I had made a habit of leading a bachelor’s life. Lyudmila uprooted it.” Pictures of their wedding day on 28 July 1983, “show Putina draped in a long white shawl and Putin squeezed inside a black suit”, said the newspaper. The couple was blessed with two daughters, Mariya Putina (b. April 28, 1985, in Leningrad) and Yekaterina Putina (b. August 31, 1986, in Dresden, East Germany). After being together for thirty years, their marriage collapsed and the news of their divorce was confirmed on 1st April 2014.
Source: @vice
After then, he has been seen with several women including Alina Kabaeva (2008), Pamela Anderson (2012), Wendi Murdoch (2016), Alisa Kharcheva (2016), Viktoriya Lopyreva (2018). Among them, Putin has been romantically linked to a gymnast Alina Kabaeva for well over a decade. Kabaeva, 38, an Olympic gold medalist, is the rumored longtime partner of the Russian president and is reportedly the mother of Putin’s twins. By profession, Alina Kabaeva is a Russian politician, media manager, and retired rhythmic gymnast. Kabaeva is among the most successful gymnasts, with 2 Olympic medals, 14 World Championship medals, and 21 European Championship medals. In September 2014, Kabaeva accepted a position as a chair of the National Media Group, the largest Russian media conglomerate. She was first linked to Putin, 69, in 2008 when it was reported by a Moscow newspaper run by media tycoon and former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev. Kabaeva – dubbed “Russia’s First Mistress” – has gone on the record to deny she is the Russian president’s partner, but it has not stopped rumors that the pair are engaged, married, and even have a secret family together. In 2016, Kabaeva appeared in public wearing a ring on her ring finger, which she seemed to attempt to hide from the cameras. She was wearing the ring again during a rare TV interview, where she failed to shed any new light on her alleged relationship with the Kremlin strongman, whose name wasn’t mentioned. In February 2017, Kabaeva made another public appearance apparently showing off her wedding ring at a gymnastics tournament in Moscow. Alina is alleged to have a secret family with Putin. Back in 2017, rumors started that Kabaeva was pregnant when she attended a girlsh’ gymnastics competition in Moscow wearing a loose-fitting red dress – which appeared to be hiding a bump. A Russian newspaper then reported that the pair were engaged – but the story was denied and the paper was shut down by Kremlin authorities. Back then, there were frequent unsubstantiated reports that Putin and Kabaeva had multiple children together, although these reports were denied. In 2015, Kabaeva reportedly gave birth to a daughter; Putin is alleged to be the father. In 2019, Kabaeva reportedly gave birth to twin sons by Putin. Putin has two grandsons, born in 2012 and 2017.
His sexual orientation is straight and he is not gay.
He has several pet dogs including a Sarplaninac named Pasha and an Akita Inu named Yume.
How Rich is Vladimir Putin?
Vladimir Putin is a politician who is the president of Russia. He is reportedly one of the world’s richest leaders. As of 2022, the net worth of Putin is estimated to have $70 Billion as per sources. According to official disclosures from the Kremlin, the Russian president earns a salary of $140,000 and owns three cars, a trailer, and an 800-square-foot apartment. He also uses a 1,600-square-foot apartment in Moscow. His main source of wealth is from his government career as being the president of Russia. Official figures released during the legislative election of 2007 put Putin’s wealth at approximately 3.7 million rubles (US$150,000) in bank accounts, a private 77.4-square-meter (833 sq ft) apartment in Saint Petersburg, and miscellaneous other assets. His reported 2006 income totaled 2 million rubles (approximately $80,000). In 2012, Putin reported an income of 3.6 million rubles ($113,000). Also, he has been photographed wearing a number of expensive wristwatches, collectively valued at $700,000, nearly six times his annual salary. According to one editorial in The Washington Post, “Putin might not technically own these 43 aircraft, but, as the sole political power in Russia, he can act like they’re his”. Russian RIA journalist argued that “[Western] intelligence agencies (…) could not find anything”. These contradictory claims were analyzed by Polygraph.info which looked at a number of reports by Western (Anders Aslund estimate of $100–160 billion) and Russian (Stanislav Belkovsky estimated of $40 billion) analysts, CIA (estimate of $40 billion in 2007) as well as counterarguments of Russian media. Back in April 2016, 11 million documents belonging to Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca were leaked to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The name of Vladimir Putin does not appear in any of the records, and Putin denied his involvement with the company. As per the Panama Papers leak, close trusted associates of Putin’s own offshore companies worth US$2 billion in total. According to the paper, the US$2 billion had been “secretly shuffled through banks and shadow companies linked to Putin’s associates”, such as construction billionaires Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, and Bank Rossiya, previously identified by the U.S. State Department as being treated by Putin as his personal bank account, had been central in facilitating this. Although a musician, and in his own words, not a businessman, it appears he has accumulated assets valued at $100m, and possibly more. Regarding his residence, he has lived in numerous official residences throughout the country. These residences include the Moscow Kremlin, Novo-Ogaryovo in Moscow Oblast, Gorki-9[ru] near Moscow, Bocharov Ruchey in Sochi, Dolgiye Borody[ru] in Novgorod Oblast, and Riviera in Sochi. In August 2012, critics of Putin listed the ownership of 20 villas and palaces, nine of which were built during Putin’s 12 years in power. Today, he is residing in Novo-Ogaryovo, Moscow.
How tall is Vladimir Putin?
Vladimir Putin still looks young at this age as well. He has a perfect height of five feet seven inches or 170 cm with a balanced and well-maintained body weight of 70 Kg or 154.5 lbs. His body type is slim. He has a pair of blue eyes and his hair color is light brown. Overall, he has got a healthy body. He was also rumored to have had cosmetic surgery on his face in recent times.
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