Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin is a Russian politician who has served as President of Russia since 2012, and previously from 2000 to 2008, becoming one of the most influential and longest-serving leaders in modern Russian history.
Putin worked as an intelligence officer for the Soviet KGB before entering politics in the 1990s, rising through government positions in St. Petersburg and later Moscow before being appointed Prime Minister and then President in 2000.
During his presidency and subsequent term as Prime Minister from 2008 to 2012, before returning to the presidency, Putin has overseen significant centralization of political power within Russia.
His tenure has included major foreign policy actions including the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, actions that have drawn extensive international sanctions and significantly reshaped global geopolitics.