Vladimir Putin (1952 – ) Russian leader

Vladimir Putin is the current president of Russia, having been in power since 2000. He is a controversial figure, both praised and criticized both in Russia and the rest of the world.

Putin was born in 1952 in the city of Saint Petersburg, then known as Leningrad, in the Soviet Union. He attended Leningrad State University, where he studied law, and then served in the Soviet Armed Forces. Putin then began working in the KGB, the Soviet Union’s intelligence agency. In the late 1980s he left the KGB and joined the government as deputy mayor of St. Petersburg in 1991. In 1998, Putin became the head of the FSB, the successor to the KGB, and was appointed prime minister of Russia in 1999. In 2000 he was appointed president, and he has been re-elected several times since then, most recently in 2018. As president, Putin has been seen as a strong leader who has taken a hardline stance against political dissent and worked to maintain Russia’s presence in the international arena. He has also been credited with bringing stability and economic growth to Russia, as well as restoring Russian pride after the fall of the Soviet Union. However, Putin has also been widely criticized for his authoritarian rule and for his involvement in the war in Ukraine, where his support for pro-Russian separatists has been seen as a violation of international law. He has also been accused of curtailing civil liberties and press freedom in Russia, and of using state-run media to influence public opinion. The legacy of Putin’s rule will likely be debated for many years to come. Despite his many critics, he has a strong base of support in Russia, and his rule has seen some positive developments for the country. The future of Russia under Putin remains to be seen.