Vladimir Putin -Biography, KGB, Political Career & Facts.......

Date of Birth 7 October 1952 (age 69 years), Saint Petersburg, Russi

Full Name :  Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

Vladimir Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician. He is the President of Russia since 7 May 2012 and has also been elected for the next term after securing 76% of the votes in the 2018 presidential election. Prior to this, he was the President of Russia from 2000 to 2008 and Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and 2008 to 2012. He was also the chairman of the United Russia Party of Russia during his prime ministerial tenure.

Putin served for 16 years as an officer in the KGB, the Soviet intelligence agency, where he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. After retiring in 1991, he entered politics from his native city of St. Petersburg. He joined President Boris Yeltsin's administration in Moscow in 1996, and became acting President of Russia on 31 December 1999, following Yeltsin's unexpected resignation. Thereafter, Putin won the presidential election of 2000 and again in 2004. He was ineligible to run for a third consecutive presidential election in 2008 because of the term limit set by the Russian Constitution. In 2008 Dmitry Medvedev won the presidential election and appointed Putin as prime minister. In September 2011, a change in law resulted in an increase in the presidential term from four years to six years, and Putin announced that he would seek a third term for the presidency in 2012, leading to many Russians. There were massive protests in the cities. He won this election in March 2012 and is currently serving a 6-year term. He has also been elected for the next term after securing 76% of the votes in the 2018 presidential election.

Vladimir Putin was born on October 7, 1952 in Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg, Russia) of the Russian Republic of the Soviet Union. His father's name was Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin and mother's name was Maria Ivanovna Shelomova. His mother was a factory worker and father worked in the Soviet Navy. His father served in the submarine fleet in the 1930s and joined the enemy ambush squad during World War II. After the war he worked as a foreman in a factory. Vladimir was the third son of his father. His two elder brothers died in infancy. In 1975 Putin graduated from Leningrad State University.

who quelled the turmoil in the Russian economy in the years following Yeltison. The Russian economy saw tremendous recovery after Putin came to power, largely contributed by rising oil and gas prices. While leaving the presidency in the year 2008, he had said that I am leaving Kra Malin, not Russia. And he kept his promise, even though no one expected him to become the Prime Minister at that time. Now the question arises whether he is a statesman of the modern era, in which the thinking of the Czar of the 17th century has been absorbed? Are they Stalinists in the guise of capitalists? This is not the first time in two centuries that Russia has taken the world by surprise with its economy, writes Die Welt's chief correspondent Michael Stuermer in the lead up to his book.

Putin had opened up options for himself by transferring power to Medvedev. Meanwhile, in 2008, the term of the President was increased from four years to six years. Putin is arguably quite popular. Being a former KGB officer, he also has the image of a serious person.

There is no doubt that whatever decision he takes, that is what happens. Putin is a man who has tremendous support from the Russian public. Apart from this, India's relations with Russia were better in the past and still are today. Russia in recent years has once again been attracted to its time-tested friends like India. The economy of Russia has also improved significantly.

Early career

After receiving his bachelor's degree, he started working in the KGB. Here he continued to work till 1991. In a short time in the KGB he got the job of supervising foreigners and consular officials in Leningrad.

Vladimir Putin: From Spy to President
■ 1952: Putin was born on 7 October this year in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg).
■ He studied law. After that he joins the security agency KGB.
■ Putin also served as a spy in communist East Germany. Some of the allies of the security agency KGB held top positions in the Putin era.
■ 1990: In this decade St. Petersburg Mayor Antoine Sobchak, who had previously taught him law, meets Putin.
■ 1997: Putin joins the government of the first Russian President, Boris Yeltsin. He was made the head (prime minister) of the Federal Security Service.
■ 1999: Yeltsin resigns from the presidency and appoints Putin as acting president.
■ 2000: Vladimir Putin wins the presidential election easily.
■ 2004: Once again he becomes President again.
■ For the third time according to the Russian constitution, he could not contest the presidential election, despite this he became the prime minister.
■ 2012: Putin wins the presidential election for the third time.

Language

Apart from Russian, Putin also knows German. It is believed that he learned English after becoming the President. He still takes the help of interpreters for formal talks. Putin first spoke in English in public for the first time in 2003 while expressing his condolences over the death of Queen Elizabeth II's mother during a state dinner at Buckingham Palace