| Address: | Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| Contact: | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vladimir+Putin |
| Similar in Moscow: | Dmitry Medvedev Politician, Boris Eltsin Politician, Zovut Word, Nikita Mikhalkov Actor, Ivan Ilyin Philosopher, Sergei Ivanov Director, sovereign democracy Concept, ivan iv of russia Person, Kommersant Newspaper |
| Similar Worldwide: | Anatoly Sobchak Politician (Saint Petersburg), Vladislav Surkov Politician (Vladimir), saint petersburg City (St. Petersburg), The Guardian Newspaper (Manchester), Roman Abramovich Person (London) |
He became acting President on 31 December 1999, succeeding Boris Yeltsin, and then won the 2000 presidential election. In 2004, he was re-elected for a second term lasting until 7 May 2008.
Throughout his presidential terms and into his second term as Prime Minister, Putin has enjoyed high approval ratings amongst the Russian public. During his eight years in office, on the back of Yeltsin-era structural reforms, steadily rising oil price and cheap credit from western banks, Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase six-fold (72% in PPP), poverty cut more than half and average monthly salaries increase from $80 to $640, or by 150% in real rates. At the same time, his conduct in office has been questioned by domestic dissenters, as well as foreign governments and human rights organizations, for Second Chechen War he led, his record on internal human rights and freedoms, his alleged bullying of the former Soviet Republics (q.v. in Criticism of Vladimir Putin). A new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy, such as Gennady Timchenko, Vladimir Yakunin, Yuriy Kovalchuk, Sergey Chemezov, with close personal ties to Putin, emerged according to media reports. Corruption grew several times and assumed "systemic and institutionalised form", according to a report by Boris Nemtsov as well as other sources.
Due to constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was ineligible to run for a third consecutive Presidential term. After the victory of his successor, Dmitry Medvedev, in the 2008 presidential elections, he was then nominated by the latter to be Russia's Prime Minister; Putin took the post on 8 May 2008.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vladimir+Putin
