Vladimir Putin is a Russian politician and intelligence officer who was born in Leningrad, Russia, U.S.S.R. (now St. Petersburg, Russia) on October 7, 1952. He has held the positions of prime minister (1999 and 2008–12) and president (1999–2008 and 2012–).
Vladimir Putin Biography
| Born | 7 October 1952 |
| Place of Birth | Leningrad, Russia, U.S.S.R (now St. Petersburg, Russia) |
| Age | 69 (2021) |
| Parent | Father: Vladimir Spiridonovich PutinMother: Maria Ivanovna Putina |
| Spouse | Lyudmila Shkrebneva |
| Children | Maria, and Katerina |
| Alma mater | Saint Petersburg State University (LLB) Saint Petersburg Mining Institute (Ph.D.) |
| Title / Office | President (2012-Present), Russia Prime Minister (2008-2012), Russia President (2000-2008), Russia Prime Minister (1999-2000), Russia |
| Political party | Independent (1991–1995; 2001–2008; 2012–present) |
| Other political affiliations | People’s Front (2011) United Russia (2008–2012) Unity (1999–2001) Our Home – Russia (1995–1999) CPSU (1975–1991) |
Early Years and Personal Life
Much about Vladimir Putin’s personal life remains murky. Born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in 1952, he has recalled growing up modestly in a rat-infested communal apartment building. His parents, who lost two children prior to his birth—one of whom died during the prolonged Nazi siege of Leningrad in World War II—apparently doted on him despite working long hours. As a youth, he practiced martial arts and is reputed to have gotten into many fist fights.
In 1983, Putin married a flight attendant, Lyudmila Shkrebneva, with whom he has two daughters. (The couple divorced around 2013.) He is rumored to have fathered other children as well. Throughout his time in office, Putin has kept his family out of the public eye.
Vladimir putin net worth
While Vladimir Putin acknowledges ownership of an 800-square-foot apartment, a trailer, and three cars, persistent rumours suggest a more extravagant reality.
Even though Vladimir Putin officially claims an annual salary of $140,000, the Russian President’s reported net worth and lifestyle tell a different tale.
While Putin acknowledges ownership of an 800-square-foot apartment, a trailer, and three cars, persistent rumours suggest a more extravagant reality. Reports suggest that Putin’s personal wealth stood at a staggering $200 billion. Such claims, originating from a major investor in Russia during the 1990s, continue to circulate and add layers to the mystery surrounding Putin’s finances.
The most iconic symbol of Putin’s alleged wealth is the Black Sea mansion, often dubbed “Putin’s Country Cottage.” Despite conflicting statements, the property, perched atop a cliff, is said to boast a marble swimming pool adorned with statues of Greek gods, an amphitheater, a state-of-the-art ice hockey rink, a Vegas-style casino, and even a nightclub.
The mansion’s luxurious interior includes dining room furniture valued at $500,000, a bar table worth $54,000, and decked-out bathrooms featuring Italian toilet brushes priced at $850 and toilet paper holders at $1,250. Maintaining this grandeur requires an annual expenditure of $2 million by a 40-person staff, according to Fortune.
Adding to the list of Putin’s extravagances are reports of 19 other houses, 700 cars, 58 aircraft and helicopters, and a $716 million plane humorously named “The Flying Kremlin.”
The president’s alleged ownership of a mega yacht named Scheherazade, worth a staggering $700 million, further fuels speculation about the extent of his wealth.
Putin as a KGB Agent
Putin enlisted in the KGB, the Soviet equivalent of the CIA, after completing his legal studies at Leningrad State University. He was transferred to Dresden, East Germany, in the middle of the 1980s, where he claimed to have obtained “political intelligence,” partly through the enlistment of informants. After the Berlin Wall fell, Putin reportedly stayed in Dresden and, in a bold move, stopped a mob of demonstrators from attacking the local KGB headquarters.
Putin’s Political Rise
Putin returned to Leningrad in 1990 and claimed to have resigned from the KGB the following year. The subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union affected him deeply; he later called it the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century. Around that time, he got his political start as an aide to Anatoly Sobchak, his former teacher who became his mentor and St. Petersburg’s mayor.
In 1996, Sobchak lost his bid for re-election and later fled abroad amid corruption allegations. Yet Putin continued his meteoric rise, moving to Moscow, Russia’s capital, and securing one Kremlin post after another (while also defending an economics dissertation he allegedly plagiarized). By 1998, Putin led the KGB’s main successor organization, and the following year President Boris Yeltsin named him prime minister, the country’s second-highest office, thereby elevating him from obscurity to heir apparent.
When an ailing and increasingly unpopular Yeltsin resigned on December 31, 1999, Putin took over as acting president. (Months later, he would win election to a full term.) Helped by rising oil and gas prices, the economy improved in the early 2000s and living standards rose. Many Russians saw him as bringing order and stability after the hyperinflation, tumultuousness, and perceived lawlessness of the Yeltsin years.
First and Second Presidential Term
Yeltsin unexpectedly announced his resignation on 31 December 1999 and named Putin as acting President. Putin easily won the March 2000 election with about 53 percent of the vote. As president, he promised to end corruption and also to create a strong regulated market economy. He quickly reasserted control over Russia’s 89 regions and republics. He divided them into seven new federal districts and each was headed by a representative appointed by the president. He removed right of the regional governors to sit on the Federation Council which is the upper house of the Russian parliament. He also reduced the power of Russia’s unpopular financiers and media tycoons’ so-called “Oligarchs” by closing various media outlets and launching criminal proceedings against various leading figures.
In Chechnya, he faced a difficult situation mainly from rebels who staged terrorist attacks in Moscow and guerilla attacks on Russian troops from the region’s mountains. He also declared a military campaign in 2002 but casualties remained high.
In 2001, he strongly objected to U.S. President George Bush’s decision to abandon the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. In 2002-2003, Putin joined German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder and French Pres. Jacques Chirac opposed U.S. and British plans to use force to push Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq.
The economy of the country saw growth after a prolonged recession in the 1990s and so Putin was easily reelected in March 2004. In December 2007, in parliamentary elections, Putin’s party, United Russia, won an overwhelming majority of seats. A constitutional provision forced Putin to step down in 2008 and he chose Dmitry Medvedev as his successor.
Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister (2008-2012)
In March 2008, Dmitry Medvedev won the presidential election, and Putin was announced to be the chairman of the United Russia Party. Medvedev nominated Vladimir Putin as the country’s Prime Minister within hours of taking office on 7 May 2008.
On 24 September 2011, at the United Russia Congress in Moscow, Medvedev officially proposed that Putin stand for the Presidency in 2012. This offer was accepted by Putin. However, on 4 March 2012, Putin was elected to a third term as the President of Russia. He resigned as United Russia chairman and handed control of the party to Medvedev. On 7 May 2012. Putin was inaugurated as President and one of his first acts after assuming office was to nominate Medvedev to serve as Prime Minister.
Vladimir Putin’s Third Presidential Term (2012-2018)
His first year the office was characterised by a largely successful effort to stifle the protest movement. Leaders in opposition were jailed and nongovernmental organisations that received funding from abroad were labeled as “foreign agents”. In June 2013, tensions with the United States flared when U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden sought refuge in Russia after revealing the existence of a number of secret NSA programmes.
In Russia, Snowden was allowed on the condition that, in Putin’s words, he stop “bringing harm to our American partners.” In August 2013, an attack of chemical weapons took place outside Damascus made the U.S the case for military intervention in the Syrian Civil War. In an editorial published in the New York Times, Putin urged restraint, and U.S and Russian officials brokered a deal in which Syria’s chemical weapons supply would be destroyed.
In December 2013, Putin commemorated the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the post-Soviet Constitution and ordered the release of some 25,000 individuals from Russian prisons. Also, he granted a pardon to Mikhail Khodorkovsky who was the former head of Yuko’s oil conglomerate. He was imprisoned for more than a decade.
Vladimir Putin’s Fourth Presidential Term (2018-Present)
In 2018, he won the presidential election with more than 76% votes. On 7 May 2018, his fourth term began and will last until 2024. Also, on the same day, he invited Dmitry Medvedev to form a new government. He took part in the opening of the movement along the highway section of the Crimean bridge on 15 May 2018. He signed decrees on the composition of the new Government on 18 May 2018. He further announced that he would not run for president in 2024 on 25 May 2018. He opened the 21st FIFA World Cup on 14 June 2018 and it took place in Russia for the first time.
Dmitry Medvedev and his entire government resigned on 15 January 2020 after Vladimir Putin’s Address to the Federal Assembly. Putin also suggested major constitutional amendments that could extend his political power after the presidency. It was suggested by the president that Medvedev take the newly created post of Deputy Chairman of the Security Council.
Putin on the same day nominated Mikhail Mishustin, head of the country’s Federal Tax Service for the post of Prime Minister. The next day, he was confirmed by the State Duma to the post and appointed Prime Minister by Vladimir Putin’s decree. This was the first time a Prime Minister was confirmed without any votes against. Mishustin presented to Vladimir Putin a draft structure of his Cabinet on 21 January 2020. The president signed a decree on the structure of the Cabinet and appointed the proposed Ministers on the same day.
At the time of COVID-19 Pandemic
He was instructed to create a Working Group of the State Council on 15 March 2020 to counteract the spread of coronavirus. He appointed Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin as the head of the Group.
He arranged the Russian army after a phone call with Italian PM Giuseppe Conte to send military medics, special disinfection vehicles, and other medical equipment to Italy.
He also visited a hospital in Moscow’s Kommunarka on 24 March 2020 where patients with coronavirus are kept. He spoke with them and the doctors. He worked remotely from his office at Novo-Ogaryovo.
He announced in a televised address to the nation on 25 March that the 22 April constitutional referendum would be postponed because of coronavirus. He also announced that the next week would be a nationwide paid holiday and urged Russians to stay at home.
He also provided and announced a list of measures of social protection, support for small and medium-sized enterprises, and changes in fiscal policy. He also announced measures for microenterprises, small- and medium-sized businesses deferring tax payments except for Russia’s value-added tax for the next six months. Also cut the size of social 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 again issued an address on 2 April 2020, in which he announced prolongation of the non-working time until 30 April. Putin said that he was fully vaccinated against the disease with the Sputnik V Vaccine in June 2021.
Also Read: Dr. Sudhanshu Trivedi (Politician) Biography
Vladimir Putin: Awards & Honours
Civilian Awards presented by various countries
| Date | Country | Decoration |
| 28 May 2019 | Kazakhstan | Nursultan Nazarbayev awards Order of Yelbasy |
| 8 June 2018 | China | Order of Friendship |
| 22 November 2017 | Kyrgyzstan | Order of Manas |
| 3 October 2017 | Turkmenistan | Order “For contribution to the development of cooperation” |
| 16 October 2014 | Serbia | Order of the Republic of Serbia |
| 11 July 2014 | Cuba | Order of José Martí |
| 4 October 2013 | Monaco | Order of Saint-Charles |
| 2 April 2010 | Venezuela | Order of the Liberator |
| 10 September 2007 | UAE | Order of Zayed |
| 12 February 2007 | Saudi Arabia | Order of Abdulaziz al Saud |
| 2007 | Tajikistan | Order of Ismoili Somoni |
| 22 September 2006 | France | Légion d’honneur |
| 2004 | Kazakhstan | Order of the Golden Eagle |
| 7 March 2001 | Vietnam | Order of Ho Chi Minh |
| Year | Award/Recognition |
| 2007 | Time: Person of the Year |
| December 2007 | Expert: Person of the Year (A Russian business-oriented weekly magazine named Putin as its Person of the Year) |
| 5 October 2008 | Vladimir Putin Avenue (The capital of Russia’s Republic of Chechnya, the central street of Grozny was renamed from the Victory Avenue to Vladimir Putin Avenue) |
| February 2011 | Vladimir Putin Peak (The parliament of Kyrgyzstan named a peak in Tian Shan mountains Vladimir Putin Peak) |
Vladimir Putin: a biographical timeline
- Oct. 7, 1952 Vladimir V. Putin is born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), the only child of a factory foreman and his wife.
- 1975 Putin graduates from the law department of Leningrad State University.
- 1975 Putin joins the KGB’s Foreign Intelligence Service.
- 1983 Putin marries Lyudmila, a specialist in foreign languages. (They now have two teenage daughters, Katya and Masha.)
- 1985-90 Putin is assigned to work for the KGB in East Germany.
- 1990 Putin becomes assistant rector for international affairs at Leningrad State University. He also serves as an adviser to the chairman of the Leningrad City Council.
- 1991-94 Putin serves as chairman of the foreign relations committee of the St. Petersburg mayor’s office.
- Aug. 20, 1991 Putin resigns from the KGB.
- 1994-96 Putin serves as first deputy chairman of the St. Petersburg city government and chairman of the committee for external relations.
- August 1996 Putin is transferred to Moscow to work as President Boris Yeltsin’s first deputy manager.
- March 1997 Putin becomes Yeltsin’s deputy chief of staff in charge of the Main Control Department.
- May 1998 Putin is named presidential first deputy chief of staff in charge of Russian regions.
- July 1998 – August 1999 Putin serves as director of the Federal Security Service, a successor agency to the KGB.
- March – August 1999 Putin also serves as Russian Security Council secretary.
- August 1999 Putin is appointed prime minister.
- Dec. 31, 1999 Yeltsin abruptly resigns, naming Putin acting president pending elections.
- March 26, 2000 Putin is elected president of Russia. He wins in the first round, capturing just over 50 percent of the vote.
- April 2000 During a visit to London — his first trip to the West since being elected — Putin defends Russia’s war in Chechnya.
- May 7, 2000 Putin is sworn in as Russia’s second democratically elected president. “We have a common goal: a strong Russia,” he says.
- June 2000 Putin holds a summit in Moscow with U.S. President Bill Clinton. The leaders sign two arms control agreements but disagree on U.S. plans for a national missile defense system.
- July 8, 2000 Putin gives his first state of the nation address, expressing concerns about Russia’s falling living standards.
- July 18, 2000 Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin sign a joint statement opposing U.S. plans to build missile shields over North America and Asia.
- Aug. 12, 2000 The Russian submarine Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea, with a crew of 118 aboard. There are no survivors. Putin says he feels responsible for the accident but denies delays in rescue efforts.
- Dec. 14, 2000 Putin pardons Edmond Pope, freeing the American from a 20-year prison sentence for espionage.
- December 2000 Putin meets in Cuba with Fidel Castro, re-establishing ties between Havana and Moscow that broke down when the Soviet Union collapsed.
- March 2001 The United States and Russia expel 50 of each other’s diplomats over alleged espionage. Putin downplays the expulsions’ effects on bilateral ties.
- March 28, 2001 Putin announces the biggest Cabinet shakeup since his election. Among the changes, he appoints Russia’s first civilian defense minister.
- April 2001 The Russian government takes over the NTV television station and cracks down on other independent media outlets. Putin is accused of silencing independent voices.
- June 16, 2001 Putin, in his first summit with President Bush, says Russia and the United States “are not enemies. They do not threaten each other. And they could be fully good allies.”
- July 18, 2001 Putin holds his first formal news conference, where he praises Bush as “sincere.”
- September 2001 Russia pledges to help the U.S. anti-terrorism campaign in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. Putin promises increased arms supplies to anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan.
- Nov. 13-15, 2001 Putin, President Bush hold summit meetings in Washington and at Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Latest News 2024
Putin to visit Turkey in first trip to Nato country since Ukraine War
Turkey said Vladimir Putin is expected to visit soon, in what would be the Russian leader’s first trip to a NATO-member country since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine two years ago.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to meet with Putin primarily to discuss energy cooperation and security in Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told AHaber television on Sunday. The war in Ukraine will likely be a central topic, Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov said last week, according to Interfax. Putin will visit Turkey on Feb. 12, Reuters reported last week.
Putin’s trips abroad have been limited due to the risk of possible arrest on a warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes.
Turkey Signals Preference to Retain Russian S-400s in F-35 Row
The ICC issued the warrant against Putin on March 17 for war crimes related to the alleged abduction of children from Ukraine. Turkey isn’t a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the tribunal and isn’t bound by its decisions.
Erdogan has sought to broker peace between the warring parties and to revive a UN-backed deal that he helped engineer in 2022 that had allowed Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea. Russia abandoned the deal in July 2023, and Erdogan has urged world leaders to meet some of Russia’s demands including facilitating insurance of Russian food and fertilizer exports by Lloyd’s of London and to reconnect Moscow to the SWIFT system for international payments to persuade Putin to return to the deal.
“Our president will definitely discuss this issue with Putin,” Fidan said, signaling a new mechanism for Ukrainian grain exports.
“It is an issue that we are currently discussing with Russia. There are talks going especially between the UN, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey,” he added. “We can develop a new method for bringing grain to world markets.”
Turkey’s Erdogan Rejects ‘Negative Attitude’ Toward Putin
Russia and Ukraine are both major producers of grain, and the war has increasingly threatened the safe passage of shipments. While Ukraine transported some of its grain via its Black Sea corridor since mid-September, strong shipments are still needed to clear last year’s larger-than-expected harvest.
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