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'' 1975 '' -- '' 1991 '' http://eng.putin.kremlin.ru kgb russian orthodoxy mariya = of honor order of honor of the russian federation order soviet union 23px 23px putin signature.svg 25px lieutenant colonel vladimir putin
 vladimir putin leningrad state university
vladimir putin

vladimir vladimirovich putin -lrb- ; , born 7 october 1952 -rrb- has been the president of russia since 7 may 2012 , succeeding dmitry medvedev .
putin previously served as president from 2000 to 2008 , and as prime minister of russia from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012 .
during his last term as prime minister , he was also the chairman of united russia , the ruling party .
for 16 years putin was an officer in the kgb , rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel before he retired to enter politics in his native saint petersburg in 1991 .
he moved to moscow in 1996 and joined president boris yeltsin 's administration where he rose quickly , becoming acting president on 31 december 1999 when yeltsin unexpectedly resigned .
putin won the subsequent 2000 presidential election , despite widespread accusations of vote-rigging , and was reelected in 2004 .
because of constitutionally mandated term limits , putin was ineligible to run for a third consecutive presidential term in 2008 .
dmitry medvedev won the 2008 presidential election and appointed putin as prime minister , beginning a period of so-called `` tandemocracy '' .
in september 2011 , following a change in the law extending the presidential term from four years to six , putin announced that he would seek a third , non-consecutive term as president in the 2012 presidential election , an announcement which led to large-scale protests in many russian cities .
in march 2012 he won the election , which was criticized for procedural irregularities , and is serving a six-year term .
during putin 's first premiership and presidency -lrb- 1999 -- 2008 -rrb- real incomes in russia rose by a factor of 2.5 , while real wages more than tripled ; unemployment and poverty more than halved .
russians ' self-assessed life satisfaction also rose significantly .
putin 's first presidency was marked by high economic growth : the russian economy grew for eight straight years , seeing gdp increase by 72 % in ppp -lrb- as for nominal gdp , 600 % -rrb- .
this growth was a combined result of the 2000s commodities boom , high oil prices , as well as prudent economic and fiscal policies .
as russia 's president , putin and the federal assembly passed into law a flat income tax of 13 % , a reduced profits tax , and new land and legal codes .
as prime minister , putin oversaw large-scale military and police reform .
his energy policy has affirmed russia 's position as an energy superpower .
putin supported high-tech industries such as the nuclear and defence industries .
a rise in foreign investment contributed to a boom in such sectors as the automotive industry .
many of putin 's actions are regarded by the domestic opposition and foreign observers as undemocratic .
the 2011 democracy index stated that russia was in `` a long process of regression culminated in a move from a hybrid to an authoritarian regime '' in view of putin 's candidacy and flawed parliamentary elections .
in 2014 , russia was suspended from the g8 group as a result of its annexation of crimea .
