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Agencies

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


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Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin: biography, KGB, family, wealth, power in Russia

President Vladimir Putin gives his annual state of the nation address in Moscow in 2018. He has been in power for more than two decades. File photo: AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila sit in front of the Taj Mahal while touring city of Agra October 4, 2000. Building on the first day of a visit aimed at rekindling Soviet-era amity, Putin told India's parliament that ties with New Delhi would remain a key element of Moscow's foreign policy. REUTERS/Pawel Kopczynski

epa07764438 (FILE) - An undated picture shows a young Vladimir Putin (R) while in 9th grade at a secondary school, dancing with a girl named Elena (L), in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1969 (issued 09 August 2019). Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has been holding offices in political leadership since 1999 and is serving his fourth term as president of Russia. A Leningrad-born former KGB officer who served in East Germany, Putin headed the agency that became the FSB after the Cold War and collapse of the Soviet Union between 1998-1999. The same year, he became prime minister and then in 2000 president following the resignation of his sponsor, Boris Yeltsin. As the Russian constitution barred him from running for a third consecutive term, Putin's close ally Dmitry Medvedev was elected his successor and Putin appointed PM. Putin's presidency has seen significant economic growth and the application of economic sanctions from abroad in response to the Ukraine crisis; the rise and decay of the fiv

(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 19, 2018 Russian President Vladimir Putin looks through the scope as he shoots a Chukavin sniper rifle (SVC-380) during a visit to the military Patriot Park in Kubinka, outside Moscow. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by Alexey NIKOLSKY / SPUTNIK / AFP)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 30, 2015 Russia's President Vladimir Putin works out at a gym at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV / SPUTNIK / AFP)

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Joe Biden on the campaign trail in Florida. File photo: AFP

In this image obtained from the official website of US Senator Joseph Biden, shows the Senator (C) with his sons Beau (L) and Hunter and his future wife Jill in an undated photo. Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama on August 23, 2008 officially announced that he has chosen Senator Joseph Biden as his vice presidential pick. AFP PHOTO/HO = GETTY OUT = (Photo by Senator Joseph Biden / AFP)

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden arrives to speak at a rally at Belle Isle Casino in Detroit, Mich., Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020, which former President Barack Obama also attended. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The wife and infant daughter of Senator-elect Joe Biden (D-Del), were killed on December 18, 1972 in a traffic accident in nearby Hockessin, Delaware. Biden's two other children were seriously hurt in the wreck but later made full recoveries. At left is Senator Biden and his wife Nealia during a recent campaign tour. At right is their 16-month-old daughter Amy, who was also killed in the accident.

(FILES) In this file photo former US Vice President Joe Biden (R) talks with his son, US Army Capt. Beau Biden (L) at Camp Victory on the outskirts of Baghdad on July 4, 2009. - As men in their 70s, both Donald Trump and Joe Biden have large extended families -- some members of which are the subject of scalding controversy, while others live less in the spotlight. Examining the two competing "first families" of the US election reveals the presidential candidates' differing life stories, and how their wives and children are involved in the battle for the White House. (Photo by KHALID MOHAMMED / AFP)

WILMINGTON, DELAWARE - AUGUST 20: : Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden appears oh stage with his wife Dr. Jill Biden after delivering his acceptance speech on the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention from the Chase Center on August 20, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. The convention, which was once expected to draw 50,000 people to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is now taking place virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic. Win McNamee/Getty Images/AFP

US Senator Joseph Biden, D-Del., announces on September 23, 1987 that he is withdrawing from the race for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, as his wife Jill grasps his arm (R). (Photo by Jerome DELAY / AFP)

Russian leader Vladimir Putin keeps shirt on for his 2020 calendar

This photo released by G20 Summit's Press Office shows Russia's President Vladimir Putin (C), leaving his plane upon arrival at Ezeiza International airport in Buenos Aires province, on November 30, 2018, on the first day of the G20 Leaders' Summit.

A picture taken on August 26, 2018, shows Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (R) looking at vegetation during a short vacation in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. (Photo by Alexey NIKOLSKY / Sputnik / AFP)

There are six different state-approved 2020 Vladimir Putin wall calendars, as well as a desktop version, with slight variations. Some are being sold on eBay and Amazon. Photo: Amazon

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes an entry in the Honoured Visitor Book as he visit the Ivan Turgenev Museum on Ostozhenka Street in Moscow on November 10, 2018. File photo: AFP

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Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Photo: Reuters

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Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: EPA

FILE - In this file photo taken on Wednesday, June 24, 2020, Russian RS-24 Yars ballistic missiles roll in Red Square during the Victory Day military parade marking the 75th anniversary of the Nazi defeat in Moscow, Russia. Russia and the United States exchanged documents Tuesday Jan. 26, 2021, to extend the New START nuclear treaty, their last remaining arms control pact, the Kremlin said. The Kremlin readout of a phone call between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin said they voiced satisfaction with the move. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 23, 2021, file photo, people clash with police during a protest against the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in St. Petersburg, Russia. Allies of Navalny are calling for new protests next weekend to demand his release, following a wave of demonstrations across the country that brought out tens of thousands in a defiant challenge to President Vladimir Putin. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, File)

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Vladimir Putin is Russia’s longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin
Russian president remains an enigma, his private life shrouded in secrecy



Vladimir Putin has been in office as president or prime minister for more than two decades. Here’s what we know about the powerful Russian leader.


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Explainer | Vladimir Putin: biography, KGB, family, wealth, power in Russia

Vladimir Putin is Russia’s longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin Russian president remains an enigma, his private life shrouded in secrecy

Vladimir Putin is Russia’s longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin

Russian president remains an enigma, his private life shrouded in secrecy