Due to term limits, Putin was forced to leave the presidency in , but not before securing the office for his protege Dmitry Medvedev. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Vladimir Lenin was a Russian communist revolutionary and head of the Bolshevik Party who rose to prominence during the Russian Revolution of , one of the most explosive political events of the twentieth century.
The bloody upheaval marked the end of the Boris Yeltsin served as the president of Russia from until Though a Communist Party member for much of his life, he eventually came to believe in both democratic and free market reforms, and played an instrumental role in the collapse of the Soviet Union.
After overthrowing the centuries-old Romanov monarchy, Russia emerged from a civil war in as the newly formed Soviet Union. The Romanov family was the last imperial dynasty to rule Russia. During the Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution of was one of the most explosive political events of the twentieth century. The violent revolution marked the end of the Romanov dynasty and centuries of Russian Imperial rule. Putin likes to project himself as a keen outdoorsman.
March's photo feature a martial theme. In April, we get a more relaxed, even avuncular Russian leader. The picture for May is of a more formal Putin with heavy security. June is all about the adorable puppy with the Russian President as animal lover.
For July, it's back to the active, outdoorsy leader. December's image shows Putin enjoying the trappings of power. Other Facts. Enjoys working out and has a black belt in judo. Grew up in a communal apartment shared by three families. Served in the KGB as an intelligence officer before becoming involved in politics. Reportedly monitors loyalty of Soviet diplomats. Reportedly monitors loyalty of students and shadows foreigners.
After Sobchak wins the election, Putin is tapped to work in city hall as chairman of the committee for international relations. He resigns from the KGB. August 9, - Yeltsin appoints Putin as prime minister. December 31, - Yeltsin steps down amid scandal and Putin becomes acting president. He grants Yeltsin immunity from prosecution. March 26, - Is elected president of Russia. May 7, - Putin is sworn in. Bush and the men hold a joint press conference.
Bush tells reporters that during the two-hour meeting, he was able to get a sense of Putin's soul. May 24, - Putin and Bush sign the Moscow Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions, which requires each country to reduce its stockpiles of strategic nuclear warheads over the course of ten years.
March 15, - Is reelected after campaigning as an independent. May 7, - Putin is sworn in for his second term. April 27, - Becomes the first Russian leader to visit Israel. December 19, - Named Time magazine's Person of the Year. March 2, - Dmitry Medvedev is elected president of Russia. May 7, - Just two hours after his presidential swearing in, Medvedev names Putin as prime minister.
August - Russia engages in a military conflict with neighboring Georgia. September 24, - Medvedev calls on the ruling United Russia party to endorse Putin for president in Putin in turn suggests that Medvedev should take over the role of prime minister if the party wins parliamentary elections in December. Critics question the results amid complaints of voter fraud. May 7, - Putin is sworn in under tight security. Hundreds of protestors are detained by police.
December 14, - US President Barack Obama signs the Magnitsky Act, a law that imposes travel and financial restrictions on individuals in Russia suspected of human rights violations.
The law is named for Sergey Magnitsky, a lawyer who died under mysterious circumstances in after finding evidence that Russian officials committed tax fraud. December 28, - In response to the Magnitsky act, Putin signs into law a bill that effectively bans US citizens from adopting Russian children. The law also bans US-funded civic groups from operating in Russia. June 6, - During an interview broadcast on state-run television, Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, announce that their marriage is over.
August 6, - Putin signs a decree that bans food and agricultural imports from countries that have imposed sanctions against Russia. The two leaders discuss Ukraine and Syria, according to senior US officials. It is their first in-person meeting since Russia's incursion into Ukraine.
July 25, - The FBI announces it has launched an investigation into the hacking of the Democratic National Committee's computer system.
Although the statement doesn't indicate that the agency has a particular suspect or suspects in mind, US officials tell CNN they think the cyberattack is linked to Russia. September 1, - During a Bloomberg News interview, Putin denies that the Russian government had any involvement in the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails.
Though some reports stated that he joined the elite foreign intelligence arm, called the First Chief Directorate, the Newsweek article claimed that his first position was actually in a department called Service Number One in the agency's Leningrad office.
This branch was responsible for recruiting foreigners in the country to serve KGB intelligence purposes. In the early s Putin met and married his wife, Lyudmila, a former teacher of French and English.
In he was selected to attend the prestigious Red Banner Institute of Intelligence, where he mastered German and also learned English in preparation for an international assignment, which he had coveted for some time. Adamov, the director of the Soviet-German House of Friendship, a social and cultural club in Leipzig.
According to Wines, he spoke so fluently that he could easily mimic regional dialects. Putin appeared to genuinely enjoy socializing with Germans, unlike many other KGB agents, and respected the German trait of discipline. What Putin did in East Germany has been a matter of some speculation. Wines wrote, "Officially—and perhaps actually—his task was to track the political leanings of East Germans and their contacts with the West.
Michael Waller, meanwhile, claimed that Putin oversaw the notorious Stasi secret police force during the s. Around the time Putin went to East Germany, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was beginning to introduce economic and social reforms. Putin was apparently a firm believer in the changes.
In the Berlin Wall, separating East from West Germany, was torn down and the two began to unite. Though Putin supposedly had known that this was inevitable, he was disappointed that it occurred amid chaos and that the Soviet leadership had not managed it better. In Putin returned to Leningrad and took a job in the international affairs department at his alma mater, screening foreign students. However, that was a cover for his continuing intelligence work.
Before long, one of his former university professors, Anatoly Sobchak, who had become the first mayor of St. Petersburg the former Leningrad , asked him to join his administration. In , just as the Soviet Union was beginning to be unraveled, Putin resigned from the KGB at the rank of colonel, in order to get involved in politics.
He allegedly quit because he wanted to be part of the important changes going on in Russia at the time, or perhaps because many of his colleagues in the KGB were persecuted after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In any event, he became the mayor's external affairs aide and, in became deputy mayor. However, a Newsweek report suggested that he might have been an infiltrator there as well.
During his time in city government, Putin "excelled at unraveling the Goridan knots of Russian bureaucracy and building an infrastructure—highways, telecommunications, hotels—to support foreign investment," according to Wines. Although St. Petersburg never grew to become the financial powerhouse that many had hoped, its fortunes improved as many foreign investors moved in, such as Coca-Cola and Japanese electronics firm NEC.
Putin gained the nickname "the gray cardinal" in response to his behind-the-scenes influence and low profile. He was investigated in the early s for allegations of favoritism in granting import and export licenses, but the case was dismissed over lack of evidence. In , when Sobchak lost his mayoral campaign, Putin was offered a job with the victor, but declined out of loyalty. The next year, he was asked to join President Boris Yeltin's "inner circle" as deputy chief administrator of the Kremlin.
In March of , he was named secretary of the Security Council, a body that advises the president on matters pertaining to foreign policy, national security, and military and law enforcement. In August of , after Yeltsin had gone through five prime ministers in 17 months, he appointed Putin, who was originally dismissed by many observers as not a viable heir apparent to the ill president.
For one thing, he had little political experience; for another, his appearance and personality seemed bland. However, Putin increased his appeal among citizens for his role in vehemently pursuing the war in Chechnya. In addition to blaming various bombings in Moscow and elsewhere on Chechen terrorists, he also used harsh rhetoric in condemning his enemies.
As Wines reported, this "established his image as a tough and no-nonsense leader at a time when Russians were seeking just such a person. In December of , Russia held elections for the seat Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament. Putin's Unity Party, formed just three months prior, came in a close second to the Communists in a stunning showing.
With allies, they were expected to wield just about as much power. Though Putin was not a candidate on the ballot in this election, the candidates rode on his coattails as the obvious front-runner in the upcoming presidential race scheduled for June of On New Year's Eve in , Yeltsin unexpectedly stepped down as president, naming Putin as acting president.
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