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10 Facts to Know About Putin, The ‘Former Russia President’ Who is Now President Again

2022-03-06 , 11:33 am

The two most famous individuals in the world right now are Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

One, for showing his mettle in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, and the other, for starting it all.

Here are 10 facts about Putin, the former president of Russia who is now president again, that you need to know.

1. Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin was born on 7 October 1952. He studied law at Leningrad State University and served as a foreign intelligence officer for 16 years before resigning to focus on politics in 1991.

During his time as an intelligence officer, he was assigned to shadow foreign visitors, performed counterintelligence duties in Germany and assessed the loyalties of students at Leningrad state university.

In other words, he was a spy.

2. Growing Up in Poverty

Putin’s parents got married at 17 and times were tough for the family. His two brothers, Viktor and Albert, died during the siege of Leningrad and in infancy respectively.

His father was injured and disabled by a grenade during World War Two. After the war, his father worked at a factory while his mother swept the streets and washed test tubes to earn money for the family.

They were staying in communal housing with other families in poor conditions where there was no hot water and plenty of rats.

3. Judo

Putin wasn’t a model student. A Russian tabloid reportedly found Putin’s grade book which has a lot to tell about Putin’s student days.

He allegedly threw chalkboard erasers at other children, didn’t do his math homework, behaved badly and talked in class.

He was often caught passing notes.

Putin was, however, an allegedly accomplished Judo student, which he has been doing since he was eleven years old.

He also turned to Sambo, a Russian martial art, when he was fourteen years old.

In both sports, he won competitions in Leningrad and was the first Russian to be awarded the eighth dan of the black belt.

4. Political Career

In 1991, Putin turned towards politics after becoming an advisor to one of his law school mentors, Anatoly Sobchak.

Sobchak was running for the position of mayor at that time. After he was elected into the position, he appointed Putin as chairman of the committee for international relations.

His political career took off from there and on 9 Aug 1999, Putin was appointed as the Prime Minister of Russia by then-President Boris Yeltsin.

A few months later, on 31 Dec 1999, Putin was appointed as acting president after Yeltsin was forced to step down due to a scandal.

5. First Run As President of Russia

In 2000, Putin was officially elected into the position of president. He served two terms as the president of Russia from 2000 to 2008.

During his first term, he was responsible for meeting with US president George Bush and signing the Moscow Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions which requires both sides to reduce the number of nuclear warheads.

Between 2000 to 2004, Putin managed to win against Russian Oligarchs, business oligarchs in the former Soviet Union who managed to acquire large amounts of wealth and power.

The bargain he had with them allowed them to keep most of their powers; in exchange, the oligarchs have to support Putin’s government.

During the same period, Putin also set out to improve the condition of impoverished Russia.

He was reelected in 2004 and was the first Russian president to visit Israel. Putin also managed to forge a relationship with Britain and announced increased cooperation to fight terrorism.

6. Back To Prime Ministership

In 2008, Putin was barred from seeking a third term as the president of Russia. Dmitry Medvedev was elected as the president of Russia. Two hours after Medvedev was sworn into the role, he appointed Putin as his prime minister.

Three months into Medvedev’s term, Russia started an armed conflict with Georgia.

The five-day conflict cost Georgia 412 lives and left 1,747 wounded. 67 Russian servicemen were killed and 283 wounded, while 365 South Ossetian servicemen and civilians died.

In 2011, Medvedev called upon the ruling United Russia party to endorse Putin for the presidency again, since the law then was that a President cannot have three consecutive terms, but not the number of terms.

Meanwhile, Putin suggested that Medvedev should be the prime minister if the party wins in the December parliamentary elections.

It was later revealed that both men had cut out a deal a while ago.

7. Back to Presidency

In 2012, Putin was back in the president seat once again.

However, his victory wasn’t as scandal-free and he had to be sworn in under tight security while the police detained hundreds of protestors.

One protest which took place on 6 May 2012 had 8,000 to 20,000 protestors attending. Eighty people were injured in clashes with the police and another 570 were arrested over two days.

8. Not A Stranger To Armed Conflicts

In 2014, Russia made several military advances into Ukraine after the fall of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.

Russian soldiers without Russian insignias took control of strategic positions in the Ukraine territory of Crimea.

Shortly after, Russia annexed both Crimea and Sevastopol after an official survey revealed that most of the population wanted to join the Russian Federation.

Later in December 2015, Putin admitted that his Russian military intelligence officers were operating in Ukraine.

In 2015, Putin sent the Russian military to intervene in the Syrian civil war after an official call for help was issued by the Syrian government.

Even after Putin withdrew a large part of military support from Syria in Mar 2016, Russian forces deployed in Syria continue to operate in support of the Syrian government.

9. Power Consolidation

In January 2020, Putin announced that he’ll change the constitution to remove the term limits for presidents.

This would, theoretically, allow him to remain in office indefinitely.

In response, Medvedev and his government resigned, stating that a new government would give Putin the chance to make his decisions.

Mikhail Mishustin, the head of Russia’s Federal Tax Service, was appointed as prime minister.

10. A Few Cars, A Small Flat And Some Savings (Allegedly)

Putin was widely regarded as one of the richest men on earth. However, on paper, he’s not.

According to official Russian documents, Putin only has a few old cars, a small flat and whatever savings he can keep from his salary of US$140,000.

However, it was suspected that Putin’s vast assets are actually held for him by the Russian oligarchs, their families and relatives.

Forbes had previously tried to find out how big Putin’s personal fortune actually is, but one of its editors, who was looking into Russia’s early oligarchs, was gunned down in Moscow.

It was estimated that Putin should have a fortune amounting to more than US$200 billion, mostly due to the Mafia-like bargain he struck with the oligarchs back in 2004.

A lot of it is stashed in overseas accounts, investments and properties, and any attempt to uncover his riches would require cooperation between different countries.