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Born in Leningrad, Russia, USSR (Now St. Petersburg)
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Putin Graduated from Leningrad State University with a law degree.
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Putin served 15 years as a KGB officer. This experience is believed to have greatly impacted his outlook on the USSR and on the world.
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Putin was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant in the KGB.
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While in the KGB Putin went to Germany under the identity of a translator. It is believed that his mission was to recruit German Communist Party and Stasi officials, to steal tech secrets, to compromise visiting westerners, or travel to west Germany undercover.
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After his work in the KGB he returned to Leningrad State University to become the Prorector where he was in charge of external relations.
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Putin then worked as an advisor under Sobchak (the first the first democratically elected mayor of St. Petersburg). He earned a reputation for getting things done and was eventually promoted to First Deputy Mayor.
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Putin returned to Moscow to work for the presidential staff as deputy to the Kremlin's Chief Administrator, Pavel Borodin.
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President Boris Yeltsin appointed Putin The Director of the Federal Security Service (Successor to the KGB). Later this same year he became secretary of the Security Council.
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Looking for his successor, Pres. Boris Yeltsin appointed Putin to be Prime Minister. Putin was not very famous at the time, but his approval ratings were high because of his coolness in handling situations like the Successionists in Chechnya. This was a strong contrast to Boris Yeltsin's erratic nature.
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President Boris Yeltsin unexpectedly announced his resignation appointing Putin as acting President of Russia
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Vladimir Putin easily won Russia's 2000 presidential election. He ran on a promise to rebuild a weakened Russia.
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As president, Putin's focus was on ending corruption and creating a strongly regulated market economy.
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Putin was to easily win the 2004 election after he had overseen major growth in Russia's economy despite the recession that occurred in the 1990s.
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Putin's party, United Russia, won a large majority of the seats in the Russian Parliament. This was despite accusations of the election being unfair.
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A constitutional provision prohibited Putin from serving more than two terms. Therefore, Putin was forced to step down and he chose Dmitry Medvedev as his successor.
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Following Dmitry Medvedevs strong victory in 2008 election, he appointed Vladimir Putin as the Prime Minister where he would still hold a lot of power.
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Vladimir Putin was elected President of Russia for the third time and he nominated former President Dmitry Medvedev to be his Prime Minister.
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Russia granted Edward Snowden refuge after he revealed details about the existence of multiple secret United States NSA programs. Snowden was allowed to stay in Russia under the condition that he stop "bringing harm to our American partners". -
A chemical weapons attack outside Damascus triggered the U.S. to make a case for Military intervention. Russia opposed U.S. intervention. They struck a deal where the U.S. would not intervene and Russia would stop their supply of chemical weapons to Syria.
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Putin commemorated the 20th anniversary of Russia's adoption of the post-Soviet constitution by releasing about 25,000 individuals from prison.
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The Ukrainian Conflict started when protestors in the capital city of Kiev violently demonstrated in favor of a western government. Protesters overthrew and forced out the old government sparking conflict with Russia.
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Protestors in Ukraine overthrew the government forcing Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to flee to Russia.
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Putin refused to recognize the new Government in Ukraine. He sent Russian troops to Crimea. Crimea is the autonomous region in northern Ukraine. Russian military took control of Crimea, and later Crimean citizens voted to join Russia. -
A Malaysian Airline flight carrying 298 passengers crashed in eastern Ukraine. The missiles launched by the rebels were believed to have been Russian made. This prompted many western countries to impose sanctions on Russia.
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Putin met with world leaders in Minsk to approve a 12-point peace plan that would end fighting in Ukraine. This was certainly not the end of the conflict however.
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Opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was shot dead no far from the Kremlin. This was just days after he publicly criticized Russian involvement in Ukraine.
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Russia involved itself in the in the Syrian civil war by sending airstrikes to different Syrian cities. Despite denial by the Russians the airstrikes seemed to have been targeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
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Oppositionist and Activist Aleksey Navalny was repeatedly prisoned by the Russian government. Navalny's "Progress Party" attempted to make a run in the 2016 legislative election, but was shut out by Putin.
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During and prior to the 2016 election Russian cyber-criminals attacked the democratic party as well as presidential nominee Hilary Clinton. Russian intelligence services leaked thousands of her private emails. The FBI opened an investigation on these leaks including looking into a potential connection to then candidate Donald Trump and the Republican party. Putin denied any influence on the American elections.
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A British public inquiry officially implicated Putin in the 2006 murder of Alexander Litvinenko. Litvinenko was former member of the Russian Federal Security Service. He had spoken our against the government and defected to the U.K. While in a London Bar he was poisoned. Britain ordered the extradition of two men who they claimed carried out the murder, but both denied any involvement.
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A Russian government-linked group leaked a lot of information about then French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron. Despite the hacking Macron still won the election by a large margin.
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Putin once again easily won an election this time to serve his fourth term as President of Russia. This was despite numerous observations of ballot stuffing and other irregularities.
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Vladimir Putin met with Donald Trump in person for the first time. The two Presidents spoke alone for two hours (with only translators). After the meeting President Trump mentioned that he trusted Putin's denial of involvement in the elections more than the U.S. Department of Justice's decision.
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Putin announced his intention to change the constitution in a way that would allow him to serve more than two consecutive terms as President. These changes were quickly approved by Russian legislature.
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Alecksey Navalny, the face of the Russian opposition, became seriously ill on a plane due to poisoning. Navalny was sent to the hospital, but he survived. The Kremlin denied any involvement in the incident by all signs point to them.
