Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born on 7 October 1952 in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg).
In 1975, Putin joined the KGB and trained at the 401st KGB school in Okhta, Leningrad.
Putin studied Law at the Leningrad State University (now Saint Petersburg State University) in 1970 and graduated in 1975.
On 28 July 1983, Putin married Lyudmila Shkrebneva, and they lived together in East Germany from 1985 to 1990. They have two daughters, Mariya Putina, born 28 April 1985 in Leningrad, and Yekaterina Putina, born 31 August 1986 in Dresden, East Germany.
In May 1990, Putin was appointed as an adviser on international affairs to the Mayor of Leningrad Anatoly Sobchak.
On 28 June 1991, he became head of the Committee for External Relations of the Mayor's Office, with responsibility for promoting international relations and foreign investments.
Putin claims that he resigned with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel on 20 August 1991
In March 1994, Putin was appointed as First Deputy Chairman of the Government of Saint Petersburg.
On 26 March 1997, President Boris Yeltsin appointed Putin deputy chief of Presidential Staff, which he remained until May 1998, and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department (until June 1998).
On 25 May 1998, Putin was appointed First Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff for regions, replacing Viktoriya Mitina.
On 9 August 1999, Putin was appointed one of three First Deputy Prime Ministers, and later on that day, was appointed acting Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation by President Yeltsin.
On 31 December 1999, Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned and, according to the Constitution of Russia, Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation.
The inauguration of President Putin occurred on 7 May 2000. Putin appointed the Minister of Finance, Mikhail Kasyanov, as the Prime Minister.
On 14 March 2004, Putin was elected to the presidency for a second term, receiving 71% of the vote.
Putin was barred from a third consecutive term by the Constitution. First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was elected his successor. In a power-switching operation on 8 May 2008, only a day after handing the presidency to Medvedev, Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia, maintaining his political dominance.
On 4 March 2012, Putin won the 2012 Russian presidential elections in the first round, with 63.6% of the vote, despite widespread accusations of vote-rigging.
On 6 June 2013, Putin announced that their marriage was over, and, on 1 April 2014, the Kremlin confirmed that the divorce had been finalized.
On 30 September 2015, President Putin authorized Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War, following a formal request by the Syrian government for military help against rebel and jihadist groups.
Putin won the 2018 presidential election with more than 76% of the vote. His fourth term began on 7 May 2018.
On 25 May 2018, Putin announced that he would not run for president in 2024, justifying this in compliance with the Russian Constitution.