World Leaders: Vladimir Putin

TOP: Portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Wikimedia.

Synopsis: Vladimir Putin served as president of Russia from 2000 to 2008, and was re-

elected to the presidency in 2012. He previously served as Russia's prime minister.

Early Political Career

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia, on

October 7, 1952. He grew up attending the local grammar and high schools, where he

developed an interest in sports. After earning a law degree in 1975, Putin began his career

as an intelligence officer for the KGB security agency (similar to the CIA in the United

States) and held that position until he retired in 1990.

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and broke apart into several countries, including

Russia. After a few years working in city politics in Leningrad, Putin moved to Moscow and

in 1998 he began working for new Russian President Boris Yeltsin. In that position, he was

in charge of relations with the regional governments.

By Biography.com Editors and A+E Networks, adapted by Newsela staff on 11.04.16

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Shortly afterward, Putin was appointed head of the Federal Security Service, a part of the

former KGB, as well as head of Yeltsin's Security Council. In August 1999, Yeltsin

dismissed his cabinet along with his prime minister and promoted Putin in his place. The

prime minister is the leader of the cabinet.

President Of Russia: 1st And 2nd Terms

In December 1999, Yeltsin resigned as president of Russia and appointed Putin as the

acting president until official elections were held in March 2000, when Putin was elected to

his first term with 53 percent of the vote. Promising both political and economic reforms,

Putin set about restructuring the government and launching criminal investigations.

In response to the September 2001 terrorist attacks, Putin announced Russia's support for

the United States in its anti-terror campaign, though when the U.S. war on terror shifted

focus to the ousting of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, Putin, as well as the German and

French leaders, opposed the plan.

In 2004, Putin was re-elected to the presidency, but was prevented from running again in

2008 due to constitutional term limits. Putin's protégé Dmitry Medvedev became president

and immediately appointed Putin as Russia's prime minister, allowing Putin to maintain in a

powerful position for four more years.

Third Term As President

On March 4, 2012, Putin was re-elected to his third term as president, though there were

widespread protests and allegations of fraud. He took office anyway and appointed

Medvedev as his prime minister.

Putin made more controversial changes to Russia's domestic affairs and foreign policy. In

December 2012, Putin signed into law a ban on the U.S. adoption of Russian children,

saying this would make it easier for Russians to adopt the orphans. However, the adoption

ban spurred international controversy.

Putin further strained relations with the United States the following year when he offered

American Edward Snowden protection in Russia. Snowden is wanted by the United States

for leaking secret information, and Russia allowed Snowden to remain in its country rather

than face criminal charges in the United States.

Putin has also upset many people with his new anti-gay laws. He made it illegal for gay

couples to adopt in Russia and placed a ban on propagandizing "nontraditional"

relationships to minors. The legislation led to widespread international protest.

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Chemical Weapons In Syria

In September 2013, tensions rose between the United States and Syria over Syria's

possession of chemical weapons. The United States threatened military action if the

weapons were not relinquished. The Russian and U.S. governments made a deal for those

weapons to be destroyed.

On September 11, 2013, the New York Times published an opinion article by Putin titled "A

Plea for Caution From Russia." In the article, Putin spoke directly about the United States

taking action against Syria. He stated that such a move could result in more violence.

Putin further asserted that the U.S. claim that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used the

chemical weapons on civilians might be misplaced, with the more likely explanation being

the unauthorized use of the weapons by Syrian rebels trying to overthrow the government.

Invading Crimea

Amidst widespread political unrest in the Ukraine in 2014, Putin sent Russian troops into

Crimea, a peninsula in the country's northeast coast of the Black Sea. The peninsula had

been part of Russia until 1954. About 16,000 Russian troops invaded the territory. A vote

was held in Crimea, with the majority of people voting to join Russia in an election many felt

was rigged. European countries and the United States refused to accept that the Crimean

population voted to be a part of Russia. Putin denied accusations that Russia wanted to

engage Ukraine in war to take over Crimea.

Syrian Airstrikes

In September 2015, Russia surprised the world by announcing it would begin strategic

airstrikes in Syria. The government said the actions are intended to target the extremist

group Islamic State (IS), also known as ISIS.

Russia's true motives have been called into question, with many international analysts and

government officials claiming that the airstrikes are in fact aimed at the rebel forces

attempting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad's historically repressive regime.

U.S. Election Hacks

Months prior to the U.S. presidential election, more than a dozen U.S. intelligence

agencies agreed that Russian intelligence agencies were behind a series of email hacks of

the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and John Podesta. The DNC is the governing

body of the U.S. Democratic party. At the time of the hacks, Podesta was chairman of

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign.

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The hacked emails were leaked to WikiLeaks, a group that publishes classified and secret

information. WikiLeaks published the DNC emails in July 2016. It published the Podesta

emails in October 2016.

In December 2016, senior CIA officials concluded "with a high level of confidence" that

Putin was personally involved in intervening in the U.S. presidential election. The officials

stated that the hacked emails were given to WikiLeaks to undermine Clinton's campaign in

favor of her Republican opponent, Donald Trump. Soon after, the FBI and National

Intelligence Agency publicly supported the CIA's assessments.

Personal Life

In 1980, Putin met his future wife, Lyudmila, who was working as a flight attendant at the

time. The couple married in 1983 and had two daughters. In 2013, the couple divorced.

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