Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born on 7 October 1952 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), growing up in a communal apartment he described as infested with rats. He graduated from Leningrad State University’s law faculty in 1975 and later earned an economics degree from St. Petersburg Mining University in 1997, though his thesis was found to contain plagiarism. He joined the KGB upon graduation, serving as an intelligence officer in Dresden, East Germany, from 1985 to 1990 and attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel. He has also revealed he commanded a howitzer artillery battalion during his military service. After resigning from the KGB in 1991, he entered politics under mentor Anatoly Sobchak, becoming deputy mayor of St. Petersburg. Putin moved to Moscow in 1996, rapidly rising through Yeltsin’s administration to become FSB director, then Prime Minister in August 1999. His response to the Chechen conflict propelled his popularity. Yeltsin resigned on 31 December 1999, making Putin the acting president; he won the March 2000 election with 53% of the vote. Now in his fifth term (secured 2024 with 87%), he is Russia’s longest-serving leader since Stalin. He formally affiliated with the Unity Party (predecessor to United Russia) early in his career. He divorced Lyudmila Putina in 2014; they have two daughters