Russian President Vladimir Putin was appointed acting prime minister on August 9, 1999, by then president Boris Yeltsin. He has been in office as president or prime minister ever since, a period spanning more than two decades. Here’s what we know about Russian leader Putin.
Biography
Vladimir Putin was born on October 7, 1952 into a working-class family in Leningrad, now called Saint Petersburg.
“I come from an ordinary family, and this is how I lived for a long time, nearly my whole life. I lived as an average, normal person and I have always maintained that connection,” Putin is quoted as saying in his biography section of the Kremlin’s website.
His mother Maria Shelomova was a “very kind, benevolent person”. His father, also named Vladimir, served in the Soviet navy. The couple had two boys who died before the younger Vladimir was born.
Putin said he was initially a “troublemaker” at school but turned to sport and improved his grades. From the age of 11 he began judo, to his mother’s disapproval.
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Putin, who would later join the state security service, studied at Leningrad State University and at KGB School No 1 in Moscow.
Putin cultivates an image of masculine strength and physical prowess, helped by stunts like horse-riding half-naked and driving a Formula One car. He is a judo black belt and proficient in Sambo, a martial art developed in the Soviet army.
In 2012, his health became the subject of speculation after he was spotted limping at an Asia-Pacific summit – rumours the Kremlin dismissed, explaining that the head of state had simply had a “minor sports injury”. He was also rumoured to have had cosmetic surgery on his face in recent years.
Putin can speak Russian, English and German – and possibly other languages.
Videos on YouTube of him publicly chastising bumbling, underperforming Russian officials are both brutal and entertaining to watch.
He’s also a dog person and a cute-animal cuddler. But on the world stage he known for his steely persona, particularly with Western leaders.
Putin once brought his pet Labrador, Konnie, to a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merkel has a famous and deathly fear of dogs.
KGB
Putin worked for the KGB from the mid-1970s and was posted in Dresden, then East Germany, from 1985 to 1990, as Soviet power was crumbling.
Declassified KGB documents in Russia describe the future president as a “conscientious and disciplined” spy at the start of his career.
“Comrade Putin … is constantly raising his ideological, political and professional level,” said a one-page document released to Russian media in 2015, written while the intelligence agent was in his 20s.
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The young Putin also received “congratulations from his seniors” in the organisation “for his well organised work and results,” the document said.
Putin has what some observers have called a “gunslinger’s gait” – a distinctive walk with a reduced swing in his right arm, which he may have acquired through KGB weapons training.
Family
Putin has maintained a veil of secrecy over his own love life since he announced his divorce from his wife Lyudmila in 2013, after nearly three decades of marriage.
At the time of their announced separation, Lyudmila, a former airline stewardess five years younger than the president, said it had been “our common decision”.
“Our marriage is over due to the fact that we barely see each other,” she said. Putin also said it had been “a joint decision”.
“Lyudmila Alexandrovna and I will always remain close – forever, I am sure.”
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Before then, the couple have made only rare, sometimes awkward appearances together, prompting media speculation they had been secretly divorced for years.
It has been long rumoured, but never confirmed, that Putin has been romantically linked to Olympic rhythmic gymnastics champion Alina Kabayeva, who is nearly 30 years younger than him.
Putin has two daughters with ex-wife Lyudmila: Maria and Katerina. Maria was born in Russia in 1985 and Katerina was born in 1986 in Germany where Putin was stationed as a spy.
Putin has fought to keep his daughters away from the public eye and rarely speaks publicly about them. In 2020, he did mention that one of them – but without saying who – was involved in the “experiment” to develop Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine.
Rumours of other children, including another adult daughter, have been swirling around for years, but have never been publicly substantiated.
In 2017, Putin confirmed for the first time that he had grandchildren, and said that he wanted to keep them out of the spotlight so they can grow up “normally”.
Wealth
Putin’s wealth has been a subject of much speculation among Kremlin watchers, particularly the Russian leader’s critics. London-based Bill Browder, once the biggest foreign money manager in Moscow, told a US Senate Judiciary Committee in 2017 that Putin was “one of the richest men in the world”.
(Russia has repeatedly asked Interpol to arrest Browder, who was sentenced in absentia by a Russian court to nine years in prison for deliberate bankruptcy and tax evasion).
The Russian president, who claims to live a frugal lifestyle, declared an annual income of 9.7 million Russian roubles (US$133,400) for 2019. Putin’s declared assets include two Russian flats, two vintage Volga GAZ M21 cars, a Niva SUV and a Skif trailer, according to TASS news agency.
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A Kremlin spokesman in 2021 dismissed claims by jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny that Putin owned a luxury property on the Black Sea – purportedly worth US$1.35 billion. Navalny claimed the property was 39 times the size of Monaco and featured a casino inside a 90,424 sq ft mansion, along with an ice rink and vineyards.
The 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner has also accused Putin of ordering Russian agents to poison him with a military-grade nerve agent, a claim the Kremlin has repeatedly denied.
Putin has been seen wearing luxury watches. The Russian president’s collection includes heavyweight names such as Patek Philippe, IWC and A. Lange & Söhne, just to name a few.
Power
Putin’s rise to power was meteoric. In August, 1999, then President Boris Yeltsin named Putin, a little-known security chief, as his fifth acting prime minister in less than a year, and said that he wanted Putin to succeed him as president.
In the following weeks, apartment bombings across Russia killed more than 300 people, which Putin blamed on Chechen terrorists. His popularity was boosted by his tough response, which included the aerial bombing of parts of Chechnya and an assault to recapture the breakaway southern province. Some Kremlin critics questioned if Chechen terrorists were really to blame for the apartment bombings. On December 31, an ailing Yeltsin resigned, naming Putin as acting president. In late March in 2000, Putin won first presidential election. He was re-elected in 2004.
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In 2008, Putin stepped down at the end of his second term – as constitutionally required – handing power to Dmitry Medvedev. He became prime minister.
Putin returned as president in May, 2012, amid unprecedented opposition protests.
In March, 2014, Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, sparking the worst diplomatic crisis between Russia and the West since the Cold War.
Putin was re-elected president for a fourth term in March, 2018.
Putin, whose 21-year rule already makes him Russia’s longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, has shown no sign that he is going anywhere. In July, 2020, Russians granted Putin the right to extend his rule until 2036 in a landslide vote.
That means Putin could rule Russia until the age of 83.
Agence France-Presse and Reuters
