Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin was born on 7 October 1952. He has been the president of Russia since 2012. Earlier, he also served as President from 2000 until 2008. He has also served as the prime minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. In February 2022, President Putin ordered a full invasion of Ukraine under the pretext that it was run by ‘Nazis’. The invasion of Ukraine led to worldwide condemnation of Putin, and massive sanctions on the Russian Federation. However, this is not the first time Putin has tried to invade Ukraine. Earlier in 2014, Russia launched a military intervention in Ukraine and seized the eastern region of the nation and annexed Crimea. The takeover of Crimea led to GDP shrinking by 3.7 percent in 2015, however the economy rebounded in 2016 with 0.3 percent GDP growth. During his first tenure as a president, the economy grew for eight consecutive years with GDP measured by purchasing power increasing by 72 percent. This growth was a result of a fivefold increase in the price of oil and gas, which constitute the majority of Russian exports. On March 7 2022, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told news channels that they are talking to European partners and allies to look in a coordinated way at the prospect of banning the import of Russian oil, while making sure that there is still an appropriate supply of oil on world markets. On its part, Russia too warned that a Western ban on its oil imports may more than double the price to $300 and prompt the closure of the main gas pipeline to Germany. Putin's rule in Russia has been characterised by endemic corruption, the jailing and repression of political opponents, the intimidation and suppression of media freedom in Russia, and a 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. In his earlier days, he worked as a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years and resigned in 1991 to begin a political career in Saint Petersburg. In 1996, Putin moved to Moscow to join the administration of the then President Boris Yeltsin. After Yeltsin’s resignation, Putin became acting president. Putin has also served as director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and secretary of the Security Council. More