Vladimir
Putin Biography
in
full Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
( 1952 – )
Putin was born in
Leningrad (now St Petersburg, NW Russia. He graduated from Leningrad State
University in 1975 and began his career in the KGB as an intelligence officer
stationed mainly in East Germany (1975–89).
Following the
collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, he retired from the KGB with the rank of
colonel, and returned to Leningrad as a supporter of Anatoly Sobchak
(1937–2000), a liberal politician. On the latter's election as mayor of
Leningrad (1991), Putin became his head of external relations and first deputy
mayor (1994).
After Sobchak's
defeat in 1996, Putin resigned his post and moved to Moscow. In 1998 he was
appointed deputy head of management in Boris Yeltsin's presidential
administration, in charge of the Kremlin's relations with the regional
governments.
Shortly
afterwards, he was appointed head of the Federal Security, an arm of the former
KGB, and head of Yeltsin's Security Council. In August 1999 Yeltsin dismissed
his prime minister Sergey Stapashin (1952– ) together with his cabinet, and
promoted Putin in his place.
In December 1999
Yeltsin resigned as president, appointing Putin acting president until official
elections were held (in early 2000). He was re-elected in 2004. In April 2005
he made a historic visit to Israel for talks with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon,
the first visit there by any Kremlin leader.
Due to term
limits, Putin cannot run again in 2008. He has all but secured himself the post
of prime minister if his protégé Dmitry Medvedev becomes president in March,
continuing his position among the top Russian leadership after eight years at
the helm.
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