Biography:Putin has been in his second term as the President of Russia since 2012, having served a previous term from 2000 until 2008. Between 2008 and 2012 he served as prime minister in the cabinet of President Dmitry Medvedev.
While his rule in Russia has seen the economy, general living standards and levels of law and order improve drastically since he took office after the economic collapse of the 1990s, he has been criticized domestically and abroad for his increasingly authoritarian rule, his intervention in Ukraine and for perceived levels of corruption in the Russian government.
1983-07-28 Russian president Vladimir Putin (30) weds flight attendant Lyudmila Shkrebneva (25)
2013-06-07 Russian President Vladimir Putin announces his divorce from his wife on national TV
Historical Events
1998-10-01 Vladimir Putin became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.
1999-12-31Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as acting President
2005-02-23 Slovakia Summit 2005 begins; George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend - 1st visit of a sitting US President to Slovakia
2007-06-12Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian novelist and historian, is awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation for his humanitarian work by President Putin
2012-03-04 Vladimir Putin wins Russian presidential election amid allegations of voter fraud
2012-05-07 Vladimir Putin sworn in for third six-year term as President of Russia
2012-05-08Dmitry Medvedev is confirmed as Russian Prime Minister by the State Duma, after being nominated by Vladimir Putin
2012-12-28 Vladimir Putin signs into law a ban on US adoption of Russian children
2014-03-01 US President Barack Obama warns Russian President Vladimir Putin over involvement in Ukraine
2014-03-02 President Vladimir Putin receives unanimous approval from Russia's parliament to send troops to Ukraine
2014-03-10 German Chancellor Angela Merkel warns Russia's Vladimir Putin that making Crimea part of Russia is illegal and in violation of Ukraine's constitution
2014-05-21 Russian President Putin signs agreements with China in Beijing in relation to trade and infrastructure
2014-11-15 Vladimir Putin's press secretary says media reports that the Russian president plans to leave the G20 Summit in Brisbane early are nonsense
2016-03-14 President Vladimir Putin orders Russian troops out of Syria
2016-09-18 In Russian elections Vladimir Putin-backed United Russia party wins 54% of Parliamentary seats led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev
2017-07-30 Russian President Vladimir Putin announces American diplomats in Russia cut by 755 in response to American sanctions
2018-03-01 Vladimir Putin in his annual state address claims Russia has an "invincible” intercontinental cruise missile
2018-03-18 Vladimir Putin is elected to a new six-year term as Russian President with 76% of the vote, his fourth term
2018-05-07 Vladimir Putin is sworn in as Russian President for another 6 years
2018-05-15 Controversial Kerch bridge linking Russia and annexed Crimea opened by Russian President Vladimir Putin. At 19km the longest bridge in Europe.
2018-07-16 US President Donald Trump appears to accept the word of Russian President Vladimir Putin over US intelligence services about Russian meddling in the 2016 US election, in an interview after the two leader's Helsinki Summit
2018-08-29 Russian President Vladimir Putin announces new retirement ages, 60 for women, 65 for men in TV address, amid protests
2019-01-14 US President Donald Trump denies he is a Russian agent after NY Times article states the FBI started an investigation and the Washington Post raised issues over a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin
2019-07-31 Russian President Vladimir Putin orders Russian army to help put out huge wildfires in Siberia covering three million hectares (7.4 million acres) after 700,000 people sign petition
2019-10-22 Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan agree deal to jointly control former Kurdish territory in Northern Syria
2020-03-02 Russian President Vladimir Putin proposes constitutional amendment banning gay marriage
2020-03-10 Russian lower house of Parliament passes legislation to allow Vladimir Putin to hold office of President for life
2020-04-28 President Vladimir Putin warns Russia has not yet reached the peak of COVID-19 infections, with 93,000 recorded cases and 867 deaths
2020-05-12 Russia's confirmed cases of COVID-19 reach 232,000, 2nd highest in the world, a day after President Vladimir Putin eased the country's lockdown
2020-07-01 Russian President Vladimir Putin wins national referendum allowing longer presidential terms of office
2020-08-11 President Vladimir Putin in a propaganda stunt announces Russia has become the 1st country to grant regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine, called “Sputnik V", despite no scientific data being published or phase 3 trials having even begun
2021-03-16 Declassified US intelligence report says Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized efforts to aid re-election of Donald Trump
2021-03-18 US President Joe Biden agrees Russian President Vladimir Putin is a "killer" in ABC News interview. Putin responds "It takes one to know one" a day later.
2021-04-21 Russian President Vladimir Putin warns the West not to cross a "red line" in his state of the union address, amid massing of 100,000 Russian troops on Ukraine border
2021-06-16 Summit between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland, over issues including cyberattacks and human rights
2021-12-07 US President Joe Biden warns Russian President Vladimir Putin of economic consequences if Russia continues a military build-up in Ukraine, during a virtual meeting
2022-02-07 French President Emmanuel Macron meets with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow amid build-up of Russian troops on border with Ukraine
2022-02-21 Russian leader Vladimir Putin recognises Russia-backed separatists in two Ukrainian regions, ordering in troops for "peacekeeping functions"
2022-02-24 Russian leader Vladimir Putin announces the start of a three day “special military operation” in Ukraine to "demilitarize" the country. Moments before Russia launched a full-scale pre-dawn and unprovoked invasion by land, air and sea, with bombings in several cities.
2022-03-01 US President Joe Biden, in his State of the Union address, says Vladimir Putin has "badly miscalculated" by invading Ukraine
2022-03-26 US President Joe Biden says of Russian President Vladimir Putin, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power" in unscripted remarks in Poland
2022-06-09 Russian leader Vladimir Putin compares himself to Tsar Peter the Great, who conquered the Baltic coast, at an exhibition to the Tsar in Moscow
2022-09-15 Chinese leader Xi Jinping meets Russian President Vladimir Putin and other regional leaders at a summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan
2022-09-21 Vladimir Putin announces partial mobilization of Russian population, drafting between 300,000 and 1.2m men to fight in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, prompting demonstrations around the country
2022-09-26Edward Snowden, former US intelligence contractor who exposed NSA surveillance program granted Russian citizenship by Vladimir Putin
2022-09-30 In defiance of international law Vladimir Putin announces Russia's illegal annexation of four Ukrainian provinces, Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia. Despite Russia occupying only part of each region.
2022-10-01 Ukrainian forces enter the strategic town of Lyman in Donetsk province defeating Russian forces and forcing them to retreat to Kremina, barely a day after Vladimir Putin announced Russia's illegal annexation of Donetsk
2023-03-20 Chinese leader Xi Jinping visits Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow, the first between the two since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago
2023-05-03 Mysterious explosive drone attack on the Kremlin in Moscow has no clear motive or link to people behind it, despite Russian claim it was attempt to assassinate Vladimir Putin, amid Ukrainian and US denials
2023-06-24Wagner Group mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin rebel against Vladimir Putin’s government, march towards Moscow, only a last minute deal by Aleksander Lukashenko gets them to stand down and move to Belarus
2023-06-26 Russian leader Vladimir Putin vows to bring leaders of the Wagner Group rebellion to justice, saying they wanted "to see Russia choked in bloody strife"
2023-09-13 North Korea's Kim Jong Un meets with Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny space centre, eastern Russia in suspected arms deal
2023-10-17 China's President Xi Jinping celebrates 10 years of its Belt and Rod project at summit in Beijing attended by Russian leader Vladimir Putin
2024-03-17 After suppressing and murdering opponents, President Vladimir Putin claims a post-Soviet record election victory, with 87.8% of the vote. The six year term will make him Russia's longest-serving leader in over 200 years.
2024-05-07 Vladimir Putin sworn in for his fifth term as Russian President at the Grand Kremlin Palace, Moscow, in a ceremony boycotted by many world leaders
Aleksandr Ostrovsky
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Alex Ovechkin
Alexander Gretchaninov
Alexander I
Alexander II