Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich (1952– )

Russian politician, president 2000–08 and prime minister from 2008. Appointed prime minister in August 1999 and chosen by President Boris Yeltsin as his preferred successor, Putin, a former KGB (Russian secret police) spy, was not a well-known figure either in Russia or abroad. He became acting president following Yeltsin's resignation on 31 December 1999, and was elected president in March 2000. Initially viewed as a colourless bureaucrat, he soon established a firm grip over Russia politics and gained high public approval ratings for his restoration of stability, his firm actions in conflicts in Chechnya and Dagestan, and the rapid growth enjoyed by Russia's economy, helped by rising oil prices. Putin was re-elected president in March 2004, and his United Russia party won parliamentary elections in December 2007. The constitution did not allow him to run for a third term, but he hand-picked his successor, Dmitry Medvedev, who won the March 2008 presidential election with 70% of the vote. Putin stepped down as president in May 2008, but was immediately appointed prime minister by Medvedev and looked likely to remain Russia's real ruler.

During Putin's two terms as president Russia enjoyed greater political stability and rapid economic growth – averaging 7% a year – rising foreign investment, and improving real incomes. During his first term, he reduced the power of some key oligarchs, including Boris Berezovsky, at the expense of pro-Putin oligarchs, and in the second term another key oligarch, Mikhail Khodorkovsy, president of the Yukos oil company, was convicted in 2005 of fraud and tax evasion and imprisoned. In October 2002 and September 2004 Russian special forces took firm action to end the siege by Chechen separatists of a Moscow theatre and school in Beslan, but at the respective cost of the lives of 130 and 334 hostages.

During his presidency, there were concerns in the West at what were seen as a growing authoritarianism, with crackdowns against crusading journalists and the concentration of political and economic power in the hands of a small elite of ex-KGB colleagues, St Petersburg lawyers, and favoured ‘oligarchs’ (business magnates). On his part, Putin was concerned about the spread eastwards of NATO and US interventionism abroad.

Born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg), Putin studied law at the state university. After graduating in 1975, he worked in the KGB's foreign intelligence service, mainly in Germany. In 1990, he left the KGB and became an ally of Anatoly Sobchak, the liberal mayor of St Petersburg. He became Sobchak's head of external relations in 1991 and served as deputy mayor 1994–96. Following Sobchak's defeat in 1996, Putin resigned and moved to Moscow, where he was appointed deputy head of management in the presidential administration (1997). In July 1998, he was appointed director of the FSB, the main successor to the KGB.