Vladimir Putin

About me:

SVYASCHENNYA VOINA

My full name is Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and I was born on October 7, 1952 in St. Petersburg, then known as Leningrad. I was raised as an only child since my two brothers died young, one shortly after birth, the other of diphtheria during World War II. Although it was officially prohibited by the Communist law, I was baptized in the Russian Orthodox faith. In my youth I was often called Putka. My father, Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin, was a factory foreman and died in August 1999. My mother, Maria Ivanovna Putina, died six months earlier.

I speak good English and German and I am fond of sports, especially wrestling. I have been going in for sambo (a Russian style of self-defence) and judo since I was 11. I won the sambo championships of St Petersburg many times and became Master of Sports first in sambo and later in judo. I don't smoke and just drink occasionally (unlike my predecessor, lol).

I finished my law degree at the State University in St Petersburg, then known as Leningrad. After graduating in 1975, I worked in the KGB's foreign intelligence service, mainly in Germany, where I met and married a beautiful stewardess named Lyudmila (born 1958). We now have two daughters: Katya (1985) and Masha (1986). They were both born in Dresden, Germany and now attend an international school in Moscow.

After I left the KGB in 1990 I became an ally of liberal Anatoly Sobchak, the mayor of St Petersburg, whom I met during my student days. I first became Mr Sobchak's head of external relations and then served as deputy mayor from March 1994. When Mr Sobchak lost power in 1996 it was another liberal, deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais, who recommended me for a job in the presidential administration. There I became deputy chief-of-staff before being asked, in July 1998, to take charge of one of Russia's new security services, the Federal Security Bureau (FSB), replacing Nikolai Kovalyov. Subsequently, President Boris Yeltsin appointed me as head of the powerful Security Council. After Boris Yeltsin sacked Sergei Stepashin in August 1999, I became Russia's prime minister. On the last day of the 20th century, Boris Yeltsin resigned and appointed me as acting president. During the presidential elections held on March 26, 2000 I was elected, receiving 52.94 percent of all votes and my inauguration took place on May 7, 2000. I was subsequently reelected to a second term in March of 2004.

MY RAWKIN' RIDE! (Ilyushin Il-96 Presidential Flight) ..