Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born on October 7, 1952 in the city of Saint Petersburg, which was called Leningrad in the USSR period. His mother was a factory worker and his father was a soldier in the navy submarine fleet.
After graduating from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1975, Putin completed his master’s degree in economics. After his graduation, Putin started to work in the KGB from 1975 onwards, served in Germany for a while, and after returning to Leningrad, he took part in the university administration. He was a consultant to the Leningrad City Council in 1990, and in 1991-1992 he was the deputy mayor and chairman of the municipal council’s foreign relations committee.
Putin was appointed Deputy Head of the Property Administration of the Kremlin Palace in 1996, and he held this post until 1997. He served as Head of the Presidential Administration and Head of the State Audit Administration in 1997 and 1998. While Putin was the head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in 1998-1999, he also served as the secretary of the Russian Security Council, also called the politburo of the new post-Soviet Russia.
Prima minister from 16 August 1999
Putin started to serve as deputy prime minister and acting prime minister from 9 to 16 August 1999, and as prime minister from 16 August.
Following the resignation of President Boris Yeltsin on 31 December 1999, he assumed this duty by proxy until the presidential election was held within three months, as per the Constitution. In the presidential elections held in Russia, Putin was elected president in the first round, with more than 50% of the votes. On May 7, 2008, his term of office expired and he was replaced by the new president Dmitri Medvedev and became the prime minister of Russia. On March 4, 2012, he was elected the President of the Russian Federation for the third time with 63.6% of the votes.
In an interview with a newspaper, he explained that he likes to listen to Brahms, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Schubert, Liszt and his favorite song is Yesterday from the Beatles. He explained that he prefers books with historical and political content and that he likes the poems of Ömer Hayyam.
Having a black belt, Putin has been involved in judo since a young age. He decided to join the KGB when he was in high school, Putin’s childhood dream was to become an intelligence officer.
Trying to reconcile different political tendencies in his country, Putin is trying to give Russia a new impetus with his Post-Soviet and nationalist policy, which is not hostile to the west in general but gives priority to the interests of Russia over the west. Its aim is to regain Soviet power to Russia without the communist regime.
However, during his rule, the economic development in the country enabled him to gain the support of the people. He stated that the reason for this is to ensure the security of the Russians in these lands where the Russian population is dense.
Putin and his wife Lyudmila Putina divorced on June 6, 2013. They have two daughters. Putin announced that one of his daughters is studying biology and the other is studying Japanese language and history.
