Vladimir Putin

Quick facts about Vladimir Putin

1. Born Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin on October 7, 1952, in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), Russian SFSR. Served 16 years as a foreign intelligence officer in the KGB (rising to Lieutenant Colonel) before entering Saint Petersburg municipal politics and heading the Federal Security Service (FSB).
2. Elevated to Acting President on December 31, 1999, following Boris Yeltsin's unexpected resignation, and formally inaugurated as President on May 7, 2000. Through alternations as Prime Minister (2008–2012) and constitutional amendments, he has held supreme executive power in Russia for over 26 years.
3. On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin alleging war crimes responsibility for the unlawful deportation and transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
4. Investigative networks (including Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation) documented vast unregistered wealth tied to Putin via state-subsidized oligarch shell networks, highlighted by the $1.3 billion Gelendzhik Palace complex on the Black Sea and offshore asset networks controlling billions in state enterprise capital.
5. Secured a fifth presidential term in March 2024 with a state-reported 87.28% of the vote following constitutional rewrites in 2020 that reset his term limits, granting him legal standing to remain in office until 2036.