163 Facts About Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born on 7 October 1952 and is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008.

Vladimir Putin is the longest-serving Russian president since the independence of Russia from the Soviet Union.

Vladimir Putin worked as a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Vladimir Putin resigned in 1991 to begin a political career in Saint Petersburg.

Vladimir Putin briefly served as the director of the Federal Security Service and then as secretary of the Security Council of Russia before being appointed prime minister in August 1999.

Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency in 2012, following an election marked by allegations of fraud and protests, and was reelected in 2018.

Additionally, Vladimir Putin led Russia in a conflict against Chechen separatists, re-establishing federal control over the region.

Vladimir Putin ordered a military intervention in Syria to support his ally during the Syrian civil war, with the aim of obtaining naval bases in the Eastern Mediterranean.

In February 2022, during his fourth presidential term, Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which prompted international condemnation and led to expanded sanctions.

Vladimir Putin's rule has been marked by endemic corruption and widespread human rights violations, including the imprisonment and suppression of political opponents, intimidation and censorship of independent media in Russia, and a lack of free and fair elections.

Vladimir Putin's grandfather, Spiridon Putin, was a personal cook to Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin.

Vladimir Putin's birth was preceded by the deaths of two brothers: Albert, born in the 1930s, died in infancy, and Viktor, born in 1940, died of diphtheria and starvation in 1942 during the Siege of Leningrad by Nazi Germany's forces in World War II.

Vladimir Putin's mother was a factory worker, and his father was a conscript in the Soviet Navy, serving in the submarine fleet in the early 1930s.

On 1 September 1960, Vladimir Putin started at School No 193 at Baskov Lane, near his home.

Vladimir Putin was one of a few in his class of about 45 pupils who were not yet members of the Young Pioneer organization.

Vladimir Putin attended Saint Petersburg High School 281 with a German language immersion program.

Vladimir Putin is fluent in German and often gives speeches and interviews in that language.

Vladimir Putin studied law at the Leningrad State University named after Andrei Zhdanov in 1970 and graduated in 1975.

Vladimir Putin's thesis was on "The Most Favored Nation Trading Principle in International Law".

Vladimir Putin met Anatoly Sobchak, an assistant professor who taught business law, and who later became the co-author of the Russian constitution.

Vladimir Putin was influential in Sobchak's career in Saint Petersburg, and Sobchak was influential in Vladimir Putin's career in Moscow.

In 1997, Vladimir Putin received a degree in economics at the Saint Petersburg Mining University for a thesis on energy dependencies and their instrumentalisation in foreign policy.

Vladimir Putin's supervisor was Vladimir Litvinenko, who in 2000 and again in 2004 managed his presidential election campaigns in St Petersburg.

Igor Danchenko and Clifford Gaddy consider Vladimir Putin to be a plagiarist according to Western standards.

In 1975, Vladimir Putin joined the KGB and trained at the 401st KGB School in Okhta, Leningrad.

In September 1984, Vladimir Putin was sent to Moscow for further training at the Yuri Andropov Red Banner Institute.

Vladimir Putin has publicly conveyed delight over his activities in Dresden, once recounting his confrontations with anti-communist protestors of 1989 who attempted the occupation of Stasi buildings in the city.

Vladimir Putin's work was downplayed by former Stasi spy chief Markus Wolf and Putin's former KGB colleague Vladimir Usoltsev.

Klaus Zuchold, who claimed to be recruited by Vladimir Putin, said that Vladimir Putin handled a neo-Nazi, Rainer Sonntag, and attempted to recruit an author of a study on poisons.

Vladimir Putin reportedly met Germans to be recruited for wireless communications affairs together with an interpreter.

Vladimir Putin was involved in wireless communications technologies in South-East Asia due to trips of German engineers, recruited by him, there and to the West.

Vladimir Putin explained that many documents were left to Germany only because the furnace burst but many documents of the KGB villa were sent to Moscow.

Vladimir Putin returned to Leningrad in early 1990 as a member of the "active reserves", where he worked for about three months with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University, reporting to Vice-Rector Yuriy Molchanov, while working on his doctoral dissertation.

Vladimir Putin said that he resigned with the rank of lieutenant colonel on 20 August 1991, on the second day of the 1991 Soviet coup d'etat attempt against Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev.

Vladimir Putin stated: "As soon as the coup began, I immediately decided which side I was on", although he said that the choice was hard because he had spent the best part of his life with "the organs".

Vladimir Putin's political rise began in the Saint Petersburg administration, where in May 1990 he was appointed as an advisor on international affairs to Mayor Anatoly Sobchak.

Vladimir Putin's tenure has been punctuated by significant foreign policy actions, including the controversial annexation of Crimea in 2014, military interventions in Syria, and ongoing involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian War.

International observers did not consider the election to be free or fair, with Vladimir Putin having increased political repressions after launching his full-scale war with Ukraine in 2022.

In May 2024, Vladimir Putin was inaugurated as president of Russia for the fifth time.

In September 2024, Vladimir Putin warned the West that if attacked with conventional weapons Russia would consider a nuclear retaliation, in an apparent deviation from the no first use doctrine.

Vladimir Putin went on to threaten nuclear powers that if they supported another country's attack on Russia, then they would be considered participants in such an aggression.

Vladimir Putin has made implicit nuclear threats since the outbreak of war against Ukraine.

Experts say Vladimir Putin's announcement was aimed at dissuading the US, UK and France from allowing Ukraine to use Western-supplied long-range missiles such as the Storm Shadow and ATACMS in strikes against Russia.

In July 2000, according to a law proposed by Vladimir Putin and approved by the Federal Assembly of Russia, Vladimir Putin gained the right to dismiss the heads of the 89 federal subjects.

Vladimir Putin succeeded in codifying land law and tax law and promulgated new codes on labour, administrative, criminal, commercial and civil procedural law.

Under Medvedev's presidency, Vladimir Putin's government implemented some key reforms in the area of state security, the Russian police reform and the Russian military reform.

In 1999, Vladimir Putin described communism as "a blind alley, far away from the mainstream of civilization".

In 2006, Vladimir Putin launched an industry consolidation programme to bring the main aircraft-producing companies under a single umbrella organization, the United Aircraft Corporation.

In 2014, Vladimir Putin signed a deal to supply China with 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.

Power of Siberia, which Vladimir Putin has called the "world's biggest construction project", was launched in 2019 and is expected to continue for 30 years at an ultimate cost to China of $400bn.

In 2004, Vladimir Putin signed the Kyoto Protocol treaty designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Vladimir Putin described climate change as a concerning fact with big consequences for Russia.

Vladimir Putin is not sure if it man made or not, but said that Russia is trying and will try to reduce man made emissions with forests and "low-emission energy", by this term he intends Natural gas, Nuclear energy and Hydroenergy in Russia.

Vladimir Putin said that rich countries should provide finance and technology to those with less money for lower emissions.

Vladimir Putin regularly attends the most important services of the Russian Orthodox Church on the main holy days and has established a good relationship with Patriarchs of the Russian Church, the late Alexy II of Moscow and the current Kirill of Moscow.

Russia's chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, said Vladimir Putin "paid great attention to the needs of our community and related to us with a deep respect".

In 2016, Ronald S Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress, praised Putin for making Russia "a country where Jews are welcome".

In 2016, Vladimir Putin oversaw the passage of legislation that prohibited missionary activity in Russia.

Some analysts believe that this nuclear strategy under Vladimir Putin has brought Russia into violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Vladimir Putin has sought to increase Russian territorial claims in the Arctic and its military presence there.

In 2020, Vladimir Putin signed a law on labelling individuals and organizations receiving funding from abroad as "foreign agents".

Marian K Leighton, who worked for the CIA as a Soviet analyst in the 1980s says, "Having muzzled Russia's print and broadcast media, Putin focused his energies on the Internet".

Since the 2022 Ukraine invasion, Vladimir Putin has only once granted an interview to a Western journalist, namely Tucker Carlson in February 2024.

Vladimir Putin has promoted explicitly conservative policies in social, cultural, and political matters, both at home and abroad.

Vladimir Putin has attacked globalism and neoliberalism and is identified by scholars with Russian conservatism.

Vladimir Putin has promoted new think tanks that bring together like-minded intellectuals and writers.

In cultural and social affairs Vladimir Putin has collaborated closely with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, head of the Church, endorsed his election in 2012 stating Vladimir Putin's terms were like "a miracle of God".

Still others appreciate that Vladimir Putin defends some although not all Orthodox teachings, whether or not he believes in them himself.

On 28 November 2023, during a speech to the World Russian People's Council, Vladimir Putin urged Russian women to have "seven, eight, or even more children" and said "large families must become the norm, a way of life for all of Russia's people".

Vladimir Putin supported the 2020 Russian constitutional referendum, which passed and defined marriage as a relationship between one man and one woman in the Constitution of Russia.

In 2007, Vladimir Putin led a successful effort on behalf of Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2014 Winter Paralympics, the first Winter Olympic Games to ever be hosted by Russia.

In 2013, Vladimir Putin stated that gay athletes would not face any discrimination at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

Leonid Bershidsky analyzed Vladimir Putin's interview with the Financial Times and concluded, "Vladimir Putin is an imperialist of the old Soviet school, rather than a nationalist or a racist, and he has cooperated with, and promoted, people who are known to be gay".

In 2012, Vladimir Putin wrote an article in Indian newspaper The Hindu, saying: "The Declaration on Strategic Partnership between India and Russia signed in October 2000 became a truly historic step".

In October 2022, Vladimir Putin described India and China as "close allies and partners".

Under Vladimir Putin, Russia has maintained positive relations with the Asian states of SCO and BRICS, which include China, India, Pakistan, and post-Soviet states of Central Asia.

Vladimir Putin voiced his willingness of constructing a rail bridge between the two countries.

Vladimir Putin made three visits to Mongolia and has enjoyed good relations with its neighbor.

Vladimir Putin became the first Russian or Soviet leader to visit Indonesia in half a century in 2007, resulting in the signing of an arms deal.

The relations between Russia and the Philippines received a boost in 2016 as Vladimir Putin forged closer bilateral ties with his Filipino counterpart, Rodrigo Duterte.

Vladimir Putin has good relations with Malaysia and its then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Vladimir Putin made the first Russian or Soviet leader to visit North Korea, meeting Kim Jong-il in July 2000, shortly after a visit to South Korea.

Vladimir Putin criticized violence in Myanmar against Rohingya minorities in 2017.

In December 2004, Vladimir Putin criticized the Rose and Orange revolutions, saying: "If you have permanent revolutions you risk plunging the post-Soviet space into endless conflict".

Vladimir Putin allegedly declared at a NATO-Russia summit in 2008 that if Ukraine joined NATO Russia could contend to annex the Ukrainian East and Crimea.

Vladimir Putin went on to declare that the February 2014 ousting of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych had been orchestrated by the West as an attempt to weaken Russia.

In late August 2014, Vladimir Putin stated: "People who have their own views on history and the history of our country may argue with me, but it seems to me that the Russian and Ukrainian peoples are practically one people".

Vladimir Putin endorsed the idea of a Eurasian Union in 2011; the concept was proposed by the president of Kazakhstan in 1994.

On 22 December 2022, Vladimir Putin addressed the Security Council in a speech where he did not use the term "Special Military Operation" but instead called the fighting in Ukraine a "war".

Anti-Vladimir Putin activists have called for Vladimir Putin to be prosecuted for breaking a law passed to stop people calling the Special Military Operation a war.

On 14 December 2023, President Vladimir Putin held a press conference where he indicated that Russian would only negotiate with Ukraine "when we achieve our objectives".

Vladimir Putin stated that another mobilization wasn't required as "617,000" Russian soldiers were fighting in Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin said that he regretted not launching it at the same time as the annexation of Crimea and with more "preparation".

From 2003, when Russia strongly opposed the US when it waged the Iraq War, Vladimir Putin became ever more distant from the West, and relations steadily deteriorated.

Vladimir Putin's view was that concessions by the West on one of the questions might be met with concessions from Russia on another.

In February 2007, Vladimir Putin criticized what he called the United States' monopolistic dominance in global relations, and "almost uncontained hyper use of force in international relations".

Vladimir Putin opposed Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008, warning that it would destabilize the whole system of international relations.

In March 2014, Vladimir Putin used Kosovo's declaration of independence as a justification for recognizing the independence of Crimea, citing the so-called "Kosovo independence precedent".

Vladimir Putin had a very friendly and warm relationship with Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi; the two leaders often described their relationship as a close friendship, continuing to organize bilateral meetings even after Berlusconi's resignation in November 2011.

When Berlusconi died in 2023, Vladimir Putin described him as an "extraordinary man" and a "true friend".

In late 2013, Russian-American relations deteriorated further when the United States canceled a summit for the first time since 1960 after Vladimir Putin gave asylum to American Edward Snowden, who had leaked massive amounts of classified information from the NSA.

Vladimir Putin gave a speech highly critical of the United States, accusing them of destabilizing world order and trying to "reshape the world" to its own benefit.

In June 2015, Vladimir Putin said that Russia has no intention of attacking NATO.

On 9 November 2016, Vladimir Putin congratulated Donald Trump on becoming the 45th president of the United States.

In December 2016, US intelligence officials quoted by CBS News stated that Vladimir Putin approved the email hacking and cyber attacks during the US election, against the Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Vladimir Putin has repeatedly accused Hillary Clinton, who served as US secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 of interfering in Russia's internal affairs, and in December 2016, Clinton accused Vladimir Putin of having a personal grudge against her.

On 18 June 2020, The National Interest published a nine-thousand-word essay by Vladimir Putin, titled "The Real Lessons of the 75th Anniversary of World War II".

On 21 February 2023, Vladimir Putin suspended Russia's participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States.

Vladimir Putin is a strongman, and that is very inspiring to Bolsonaro.

In September 2007, Vladimir Putin visited Indonesia, the first Russian leader to do so in over 50 years.

Amid calls to ban Vladimir Putin from attending the 2014 G20 Summit, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he would "shirtfront" the Russian leader over the shooting down of MH17 by Russian-backed rebels, which had killed 38 Australians.

On 16 October 2007, Vladimir Putin visited Iran to participate in the Second Caspian Summit in Tehran, where he met with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

At a press conference after the summit Vladimir Putin said that "all our states have the right to develop their peaceful nuclear programmes without any restrictions".

Vladimir Putin was quoted as describing Iran as a "partner", although he expressed concerns over the Iranian nuclear programme.

Vladimir Putin opposed any foreign intervention in the Syrian civil war.

Vladimir Putin echoed Assad's argument that anti-regime militants were responsible for much of the bloodshed.

On 11 September 2013, The New York Times published an op-ed by Vladimir Putin urging caution against US intervention in Syria and criticizing American exceptionalism.

Vladimir Putin subsequently helped to arrange for the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons.

Some analysts have summarized Vladimir Putin as being allied with Shiites and Alawites in the Middle East.

In 2017, Vladimir Putin dispatched Russian PMCs to back the Touadera regime in the Central African Republic Civil War, gaining a permanent military presence in return.

In October 2019, Vladimir Putin visited the United Arab Emirates, where six agreements were struck with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed.

On 22 October 2021, Vladimir Putin highlighted the "unique bond" between Russia and Israel during a meeting with Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett.

In February 2015, based on domestic polling, Vladimir Putin was ranked the world's most popular politician.

In general, most Russians believe that it would be better if Vladimir Putin remained president for as long as possible.

The Kremlin's analysis concluded that public support for the war was broad but not deep, and that most Russians would accept anything Vladimir Putin labeled a victory.

Vladimir Putin has cultivated a cult of personality for himself with an outdoorsy, athletic, tough guy public image, demonstrating his physical prowess and taking part in unusual or dangerous acts, such as extreme sports and interaction with wild animals, part of a public relations approach that, according to Wired, "deliberately cultivates the macho, take-charge superhero image".

In 2007, the tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda published a huge photograph of a shirtless Vladimir Putin vacationing in the Siberian mountains under the headline "Be Like Vladimir Putin".

Some of Vladimir Putin's activities have been criticised for being staged; outside of Russia, his macho image has been the subject of parody.

Vladimir Putin's height has been estimated by Kremlin insiders to be between 155 and 165 centimetres tall but is usually given at 170 centimetres.

Vladimir Putin was ranked the second most powerful individual by Forbes in 2018.

Vladimir Putin has produced many aphorisms and catch-phrases known as putinisms.

Vladimir Putin is known for his often tough and sharp language, often alluding to Russian jokes and folk sayings.

Vladimir Putin sometimes uses Russian criminal jargon, albeit not always correctly.

Vladimir Putin's shifting of Russia towards autocracy and weakening of the system of representative government advocated by Boris Yeltsin has met with criticism.

Vladimir Putin was described in 2015 as a "dictator" by political opponent Garry Kasparov, and as the "Tsar of corruption" in 2016 by opposition activist and blogger Alexei Navalny.

In 2015, opposition politician Boris Nemtsov said that Vladimir Putin was turning Russia into a "raw materials colony" of China.

In November 2021, The Economist noted that Vladimir Putin had "shifted from autocracy to dictatorship".

President Emmanuel Macron of France said Vladimir Putin was "deluding himself".

Vladimir Putin has been nominated and elected as President of Russia all five times since 2000, typically under an independent banner.

On 28 July 1983, Vladimir Putin married Lyudmila Shkrebneva, and they lived together in East Germany from 1985 to 1990.

Vladimir Putin has two grandsons, born in 2012 and 2017, through Maria.

Vladimir Putin reportedly has a granddaughter, born in 2017, through Katerina.

Vladimir Putin's cousin, Igor Putin, was a director at Moscow-based Master Bank and was accused in a number of money-laundering scandals.

Vladimir Putin has been known on occasion to give watches valued at thousands of dollars as gifts, for example a watch identified as a Blancpain to a Siberian boy he met while on vacation in 2009, and another similar watch to a factory worker the same year.

The German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung regards the possibility of Vladimir Putin's family profiting from this money as plausible.

In 2012, Sergei Kolesnikov, a former business associate of Vladimir Putin's, told the BBC's Newsnight programme that he had been ordered by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin to oversee the building of the palace.

Vladimir Putin said that the mansion, built on government land and sporting three helipads, plus a private road paid for from state funds and guarded by officials wearing uniforms of the official Kremlin guard service, have been built for Putin's private use.

On 19 January 2021, two days after Alexei Navalny was detained by Russian authorities upon his return to Russia, a video investigation by him and the Anti-Corruption Foundation was published accusing Vladimir Putin of using fraudulently obtained funds to build the estate for himself in what he called "the world's biggest bribe".

Since the prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin prefers to travel in an armored train to flying.

Vladimir Putin has received five dogs from various national leaders: Konni, Buffy, Yume, Verni and Pasha.

When Vladimir Putin first became president, the family had two poodles, Tosya and Rodeo.

Vladimir Putin's mother was a devout Christian who attended the Russian Orthodox Church; his father was an atheist.

Shortly before an official visit to Israel, Vladimir Putin's mother gave him his baptismal cross, telling him to get it blessed.

Vladimir Putin has been practicing judo since he was 11, before switching to sambo at the age of fourteen.

Vladimir Putin won competitions in both sports in Leningrad.

Vladimir Putin was awarded eighth dan of the black belt in 2012, becoming the first Russian to achieve the status.

Vladimir Putin was rewarded an eighth-degree karate black belt in 2014.

Vladimir Putin co-authored a book titled Learn Judo with Vladimir Putin in Russian, and Judo: History, Theory, Practice in English.

In March 2022, Vladimir Putin was removed from all positions in the International Judo Federation due to the Russian war in Ukraine.

In July 2022, the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, William Burns, stated they had no evidence to suggest Vladimir Putin was unstable or in bad health.

The Russian political magazine Sobesednik alleged in 2018 that Vladimir Putin had a sensory room installed in his private residence in the Novgorod Oblast.

Vladimir Putin has been awarded honorary doctorates and other awards from organizations across the world, but some of these were revoked in 2022 in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.