Vladimir Putin
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Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (info • help) (Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Пу́тин, Vladímir Vladímirovich Pútin) (born October 7, 1952 in Leningrad) is a Russian politician. He was the President of Russia from March 2000 to May 2008. Before becoming President, Putin was the Prime Minister of Russia. He had worked for the KGB, and was a lawyer. He is a member of the Russian Orthodox Church. Putin is married to Lyudmila Putina and has two daughters.
From 1985 to 1990, the KGB stationed Putin in Dresden, East Germany. Putin thinks of this as a minor position. The amount of damage that he must have caused to the dissidents in the former Soviet Union and in East Germany is currently unknown.
After the East German regime collapsed, Putin was recalled to the Soviet Union and returned to Leningrad, where in June 1990 he assumed a position with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University. In June 1991, he was appointed head of the International Committee of the St. Petersburg Mayor's office, with responsibility for promoting international relations and foreign investments.
Putin formally gave up his position in the state security services on August 20, 1991, during the KGB-supported abortive putsch against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. In 1994 he became First Deputy Chairman of the city of Saint Petersburg, a position he retained until he was called to Moscow, in August 1996, to serve in a variety of senior positions in Yeltsin's second Administration. He was head of the FSB (the successor agency to the KGB) from July 1998 to August 1999, and also served as Secretary of the Security Council from March to August 1999.
Mr. Putin is the leader of the ruling United Russia party, though he is not its member.
According to Putin’s critics, he is responsible for an assault on constitutional freedoms, failure of economic and social reforms (despite huge revenues from oil and gas exports), and widespread corruption.
In the recent years, the Russian opposition has held anti-government rallies, campaigned against Putin on the Internet and published independent reports for general public. People who have tried to register parties to run against Putin have been unsuccessful due to difficult registration procedures and censorship in the mass media.
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