Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (/ˈpuːtɪn/; Russian: Влади́ мир Влади́ мирович Пу́тин, romanized: Vladimir

Vladimirovič Putin, Russian pronunciation: [vɫɐˈdʲimʲɪr vɫɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ ˈputʲɪn]; born 7 October 1952) is a
Russian politician who has served as the President of Russia since 2012, previously holding the position
from 1999 until 2008.[a][3][4][5] He was also the Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and again
from 2008 to 2012.

Putin was born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) and studied law at Leningrad State University,
graduating in 1975. Putin worked as a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years, rising to the rank of
Lieutenant Colonel, before resigning in 1991 to begin a political career in Saint Petersburg. He later
moved to Moscow in 1996 to join the administration of President Boris Yeltsin, serving first as Director of
the Federal Security Service (FSB), the KGB's successor agency, before being appointed as prime minister
in August 1999. After the resignation of Yeltsin, Putin was elected in 2000 to succeed him.

During his first tenure as president, the Russian economy grew for eight straight years, with GDP
measured by purchasing power increasing by 72%. The growth was a result of the 2000s commodities
boom, recovery from the post-Communist depression and financial crises, and prudent economic and
fiscal policies.[6][7] After serving as prime minister under Dmitry Medvedev from 2008 to 2012, Putin
announced he would seek a third term as president and won the March 2012 election with 64% of the
vote.[8] Falling oil prices coupled with international sanctions imposed at the beginning of 2014 after
Russia's annexation of Crimea and military intervention in Eastern Ukraine led to GDP shrinking by 3.7%
in 2015, though the Russian economy rebounded in 2016 with 0.3% GDP growth, and the recession
officially ended.[9][10][11][12] Putin gained 76% of the March 2018 election vote and was re-elected for
a six-year term that will end in 2024.

Under Putin's leadership, Russia has experienced democratic backsliding. Experts do not generally
consider Russia to be a democracy, citing purges and jailing of political opponents, curtailed press
freedom, and the lack of free and fair elections. Russia has scored poorly on Transparency International's
Corruption Perceptions Index, the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index and Freedom House's
Freedom in the World index (including a record low 20/100 rating in the 2017 Freedom in the World
report, a rating not given since the time of the Soviet Union). Human rights organizations and activists
have accused Putin of persecuting political critics and activists as well as ordering them tortured or
assassinated; he has rejected accusations of human rights abuses. Officials of the United States
government have accused him of leading an interference program against Hillary Clinton in support of
Donald Trump during the U.S. presidential election in 2016, an allegation which both Trump and Putin
have frequently denied and criticized.