Russian president Vladimir Putin was born on October 7, 1952 in Leningrad to mother Maria Shelomova and father Vladimir Putin, a security guard and foreman. Putin earned a degree from Leningrad State University in 1970 and worked in the state security agencies after graduation and attended KGB School No. 1 in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Moscow.

Putin married wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva on July 28, 1983. Vladimir and Lyudmila Putin were married until 2013 or 2014. Their daughters Maria and Katerina were born in 1985 and 1986, respectively. Unconfirmed rumors have swirled for years that he is romantically linked to former gymnast Alina Kabaeva and that he has fathered children with her.

After completing studies at the Andropov Red Banner Institute in Moscow, he moved to East Germany from 1985-1990, where he served at the local intelligence office in Dresden. Putin returned to Leningrad in 1990 and became the assistant to the rector of Leningrad State University in charge of international relations. He then became an adviser to the chairman of the Leningrad City Council, and in June 1991, began working as Chairman of the Committee for International Relations at the St. Petersburg City Hall. In 1994, he also took on the role of Deputy Chairman of the St. Petersburg City Government. In 1996, his family relocated to Moscow and he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office and Chief of Main Control Directorate in March 1997. In May 1998, Putin was made First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office, and in July 1998, he was appointed Director of the Federal Security Service. From March 1999, he also held the position of Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. In August 1999, Putin was appointed Prime Minister of the Russian Government by then-President Boris Yeltsin. On December 31, 1999, Vladimir Putin became the Acting President of the Russian Federation. and was elected President of Russia on March 26, 2000. His inauguration took place on May 7, 2000. Putin was re-elected to a second term on March 14, 2004. Due to term limits, he was appointed Prime Minister on May 8, 2008 by presidential executive order, but was elected president again on March 4, 2012. He was re-elected in March 2018 for his fourth six-year term as president.

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