Title: Vladimir Putin Content: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (, ) is the current President of Russia. Putin was born in Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg, on 7 October 1952. He was the Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000, then President of Russia from March 2000 to May 2008, and Prime Minister again from 2008 to 2012. He became president again in 2012. He originally trained as a lawyer. ==Early life== Putin was born on 7 October 1952, in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg, Russia). His parents were Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin (1911–1999) and Maria Ivanovna Putina (née Shelomova; 1911–1998). Spiridon Putin, Vladimir Putin's grandfather, was a cook to Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. ==Early career== From 1985 to 1990, Putin worked for the KGB, the Soviet Union's secret spy service. Putin worked in Dresden, which was part of the former East Germany. After East Germany collapsed in 1989, Putin was told to come back to the Soviet Union. He chose to go to Leningrad, which is where he went to university. In June 1990, he started working in the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University. In June 1991, he was appointed head of the International Committee of the Saint Petersburg Mayor's office. His job was to promote international relations and foreign investments. Putin gave up his position in the KGB on August 20, 1991, during the putsch against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. In 1994, he became First Deputy Chairman of the city of Saint Petersburg. In August 1996, he came to Moscow, and served in a variety of important positions in Boris Yeltsin's government. He was head of the FSB (a secret spy service in modern capitalist Russia) from July 1998 to August 1999, and he was Secretary of the Security Council from March to August 1999. ==President of Russia== Putin became President of Russia in May 2000. Putin is the leader of the ruling United Russia party. This party has been winning the Russian elections ever since the fall of the Soviet Union. Critics of Putin say that he has taken away people's freedoms, and that he has failed to make the country more developed. Russia makes lots of money from selling oil and gas to other countries, but because of corruption, this money is not used for improving living conditions. Recently, the Russian opposition has held anti-government rallies, campaigned against Putin on the Internet, and published independent reports for the general public. Because of censorship in the mass media, it's very difficult to get different information out to the public. Putin was against invading Libya in 2011. He is also against invading Syria and Iran. On March 24, 2014, Putin and Russia were suspended from the G8. This was because the United States thought that the Ukraine crisis was Putin's fault. According to the Constitution of Russia, no- one can be president three times in a row. Because of this, Putin didn't put himself forward for the March 2008 election. However, you're allowed to be president as many times as you want, as long as it's not for more than two times in a row. In March 2012, Putin put himself forward for the elections, and won 64% of the vote. This means that he was the president of Russia until 2018. On December 6, 2017 Russia President Vladimir Putin announced he would run for a fourth term in the upcoming election, 2018 Russian Presidential Election. In July 2020, Russian voters backed a referendum that would allow Putin to serve as president until 2036. On 24 February 2022, Putin announced that his military was going to invade Ukraine. This happened after a year of tension and military buildup between the two countries. The invasion led to many calling Putin a war criminal and wanting him to be prosecuted as a war criminal. ==Personal life== He is a member of the Russian Orthodox Church, and is divorced with two daughters.