- Believed to be the wealthiest man in the world. Hermitage Capital Management CEO Bill Browder, who invested heavily in Russia in the 1990s and subsequently became an outspoken critic of Putin, stated that Putin has amassed a fortune of roughly $200 billion spread across a vast network of accounts and revenue streams. Though difficult to verify, this would make Putin wealthier than Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates combined (2018).
- A lifelong practitioner of the martial arts, he holds a black belt in judo.
- A former KGB agent active for 15 years in the foreign intelligence service. Retired from the agency in 1990.
- Became the acting President following Boris Yeltsin's resignation on December 31, 1999. He was then elected President of Russia on May 7 2000 with 52.94% of the vote, for a four year term. He was re-elected in 2004, for another four year term, in 2012, for a six year term, in 2018, for another six year term and yet in 2024, for another six year term.
- Is an avid swimmer, equestrian, and personal fitness fanatic.
- One of the favorite movies is Shchit i mech (1968) (The Shield and the Sword) (1968), a war/action film about a Soviet military intelligence officer who infiltrated the Abwehr (the German military intelligence) during the WWII. He decided to become an intelligence officer after he watched this movie.
- Putin collects maps and postage stamps with images of prominent people.
- Was prohibited from running for a third consecutive term in 2008 according to the Russian constitution. However, as the constitution does not prohibit more than two, but nonconsecutive, terms, Putin was able to run for the presidency in 2012. Putin won the 2012 elections but despite being popular in his first two terms, his return to the presidency proved to be unpopular among a growing number of Russians.
- TIME magazine's "Person of the Year" (2007).
- In his youth, Putin, among other Leningrad athletes, acted as a stuntman on Lenfilm - in the military dramas Izhorskiy batalon (1972) and Blokada: Luzhskiy rubezh, Pulkovskiy meredian (1974).
- Putin has one interesting peculiarity: occupying an office, he never enters into permutations there. This is quite unusual, because all officials are trying to get rid of the things of their predecessor and adapt the cabinet for themselves. Putin has never even changed furniture.
- Youngest ever Russian head of state (as of 2003)
- Spent part of his career as a KGB agent stationed in Dresden, then part of East Germany.
- In Saint Petersburg, Vladimir Putin and Yuriy Shevchuk had a heated debate about human rights, democracy, and corruption in Russia (May 2010)
- Little Vladimir was baptized by the father of Patriarch Kirill, priest Mikhail. This happened in November 1952 in Leningrad in the Transfiguration Cathedral. According to Putin, his mother baptized him secretly from his father.
- Schoolboy Putin really wanted to become a scout. To find out how to do this, he came to the reception of the KGB. There he was told that to begin with, he must either serve in the army or get a higher education (it is advisable to graduate from the law faculty).
- In addition to wrestling, Vladimir Putin is fond of skiing, and in 2011 he mastered skating and began to play hockey.
- On the eve of the Russian Grand Prix for Formula 1 racing in Sochi in 2014, Vladimir Putin personally conducted a test drive of the Renault R29 racing car of the team.
- One of the most controversial figures of early 21st century history.
- Over the entire period of Vladimir Putin's stay in power, at least 13 attempts were made on him. First time they wanted to kill the president in February 2000 at Anatoliy Sobchak's funeral. The snipers were neutralized right before the assassination attempt.
- One of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World. [April 2014].
- Prime Minister of Russia (1999-2000).
- Succeeded as President of Russia by Dmitry Medvedev in May 2008.
- Merited a place in TIME magazine's "The 100 Most Influential People" issue with an homage penned by former Soviet statesman Mikhail Gorbachev. (May 2017)
- Putin's father - Vladimir Spiridonovich (1911-1999) - a participant in the defense of Leningrad. After the war, in the 50s, he served in the protection of a carriage building plant, later worked there as a foreman.
- Vladimir Putin wears a watch on his right hand. Journalists noticed in the president's collection a Swiss watch Patek Philippe worth about $60 thousand.
- For 11 years, Anatoliy Rakhlin was Putin's judo coach, who later recalled that Putin "as a kid could endure pain" and "took in competitions not with physics, but with resourcefulness." At the same time, the coach said that it was difficult to calculate Putin's actions - he was a dangerous opponent.
- Putin claims that from childhood he was fond of Rudyard Kipling's works, and at a more mature age he fell in love with the work of Mikhail Lermontov.
- The first postage stamp featuring Putin did not appear in Russia. In 2000, the North Korean Post issued a stamp commemorating the Russian leader's visit to Pyongyang. The stamp depicts the meeting between V. Putin and Jong-Il Kim.
- In December 2010, Putin took the opportunity to address the Russian public, this time by performing Blueberry Hill in front of a stellar audience at a charity event in St. Petersburg. The event was attended by many famous people, including actors Kevin Costner, Gérard Depardieu and Sharon Stone.
- Director of the FSB (1998-1999).
- Has his look-alike puppets in satirical puppet shows Kukly (1994) and Les Guignols de l'info (1988).
- Has two daughters with Lyudmila Shkrebneva: Mariya Putina and Yekaterina Putina.
- In 2009, Vladimir Putin received the state award of Mongolia - the Order of the Precious Rod with pearls. Before him, Leonid Brezhnev was honored in 1982.
- Putin's paternal grandfather at the age of 15 went to St. Petersburg to study the profession of a cook. Under Soviet rule, Spiridon Putin worked in Gorki, where he was the personal chef of Vladimir Lenin, and after the death of the leader, he worked at one of Stalin's dachas.
- In 1989 he was awarded the bronze medal "For Merit to the National People's Army of the GDR.".
- On the night of January 1, 2000, during Putin's visit to Chechnya, the President's helicopter came under fire from militants.
- Putin's very first car was the Zaporozhets in 1972.
- One of his favorite songs is "Where does the Motherland begin?" by Venyamin Basner and Mikhail Matusovsky. Putin himself sings this melody and plays the piano.
- Putin twice became a master of sports: in 1973 in sambo, and in 1975 - in judo.
- The mother of Vladimir Putin, Maria Ivanovna Shelomova (1911-1998), worked at the plant, survived the siege of Leningrad. She was awarded the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad.".
- Putin made his first foreign trip as president of the Russian Federation in April 2000 to Belarus.
- Vladimir Putin was born on October 7, 1952 in Leningrad, in the maternity hospital named after V.F. Snegiryov on Mayakovskiy street.
- In 2006, a commemorative 1 hryvnia coin with the image of the Russian president was presented in Kiev. It was supposed to serve to popularize the Ukrainian currency in Russia.
- After Russia's invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, it was then disclosed/revealed that Putin has been suffering various illnesses including cancer (rumored to be blood or abdominal), Parkinson's disease (as his limbs are shown slightly trembling), some disease causing his eyesight to fail (as he needs words much bigger during speeches) and an unconfirmed mental illness.
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