Vladimir Putin

{{Short description|President of Russia (2000–2008; since 2012)}}{{Redirect|Vladimirovich|the name|Vladimirovich (name)}}{{Redirect|Putin||Putin (disambiguation)}} {{Pp-move}} {{Pp-extended|small=yes}} {{Cleanup|reason=MOS:SANDWICH in several places; some with floating templates and images|date=May 2026}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Vladimir Putin | native_name = {{nobold|Владимир Путин}} | native_name_lang = ru | image = Владимир Путин (08-03-2024) (cropped) (higher res) 2.jpg  | caption = Putin in 2024 | office = President of Russia | term_start = 7 May 2012 | term_end = | prime_minister = {{ubl|Dmitry Medvedev|Mikhail Mishustin{{efn|Andrey Belousov served as acting prime minister in 2020 when Mishustin tested positive for COVID-19.}}}} | predecessor = Dmitry Medvedev | successor = | term_start1 = 31 December 1999{{efn|Acting: 31 December 1999 – 7 May 2000}} | term_end1 = 7 May 2008 | prime_minister1 = {{ubl|{{em|Himself}}|Mikhail Kasyanov|Mikhail Fradkov|Viktor Zubkov}} | predecessor1 = Boris Yeltsin | successor1 = Dmitry Medvedev | office2 = Prime Minister of Russia | term_start2 = 8 May 2008 | term_end2 = 7 May 2012 | president2 = Dmitry Medvedev | 1blankname2 = First Deputy | 1namedata2 = {{ubl|Sergei Ivanov|Viktor Zubkov|Igor Shuvalov}} | predecessor2 = Viktor Zubkov | successor2 = Dmitry Medvedev Viktor Zubkov (acting) | term_start3 = 9 August 1999{{efn|Acting: 9–16 August 1999}} | term_end3 = 7 May 2000 | president3 = Boris Yeltsin {{em|Himself}} (acting) | 1blankname3 = First Deputy | 1namedata3 = {{ubl|Nikolay Aksyonenko|Viktor Khristenko|Mikhail Kasyanov}} | predecessor3 = Sergei Stepashin | successor3 = Mikhail Kasyanov | office4 = First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia | term_start4 = 9 August 1999 | term_end4 = 16 August 1999 | prime_minister4 = Sergei Stepashin ''Himself'' (acting) | office5 = Chairman of United Russia | term_start5 = 7 May 2008 | term_end5 = 26 May 2012 | predecessor5 = Boris Gryzlov | successor5 = Dmitry Medvedev {{Collapsed infobox section begin|Other offices held|titlestyle=border: 1px dashed lightgrey;}} {{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes | office6 = Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation | term_start6 = 9 March 1999 | term_end6 = 9 August 1999 | 1blankname6 = Chairman | 1namedata6 = Boris Yeltsin | predecessor6 = Nikolay Bordyuzha | successor6 = Sergei Ivanov | office7 = Director of the Federal Security Service | term_start7 = 25 July 1998 | term_end7 = 29 March 1999 | president7 = Boris Yeltsin | predecessor7 = Nikolay Kovalyov | successor7 = Nikolai Patrushev | office8 = First Deputy Chief of the Presidential Administration | term_start8 = 25 May 1998 | term_end8 = 24 July 1998 | president8 = Boris Yeltsin | predecessor8 = | successor8 = | office9 = Deputy Chief of the Presidential Administration – Head of the Main Supervisory Department | term_start9 = 26 March 1997 | term_end9 = 24 May 1998 | president9 = Boris Yeltsin | predecessor9 = Alexei Kudrin | successor9 = Nikolai Patrushev }}{{Collapsed infobox section end}} | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1952|10|7}} | birth_place = Leningrad,{{efn|Now Saint Petersburg}} Russian SFSR, Soviet Union | party = Independent (1991–1995, 2001–2008, since 2012) | other_party = {{ubl|People's Front (since 2011)|United Russia<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Vladimir Putin quits as head of Russia's ruling party |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/vladimir-putin/9223621/Vladimir-Putin-quits-as-head-of-Russias-ruling-party.html |work = The Telegraph |url-status = live |url-access = subscription |date = 24 April 2012 |access-date = 20 March 2022 |archive-url = https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/vladimir-putin/9223621/Vladimir-Putin-quits-as-head-of-Russias-ruling-party.html |archive-date = 10 January 2022 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> (2008–2012)|Unity (1999–2001)|Our Home – Russia|(1995–1999)|CPSU (1975–1991)}} | spouse = {{marriage|Lyudmila Shkrebneva| 1983|2014|reason=divorce}}{{efn|The Putins officially announced their separation in 2013 and the Kremlin confirmed the divorce had been finalized in 2014; however, it has been alleged that Putin and Lyudmila divorced in 2008.<ref name=RFERL080418 /><ref name=NYT120505 />}} | children = At least 2, Maria and Katerina{{efn|Putin has two daughters with his ex-wife Lyudmila. He is also alleged to have a third daughter, with Svetlana Krivonogikh,<ref name=Proekt201125 /> and a fourth daughter and twin sons, or just two sons, with Alina Kabaeva,<ref name=Times190526 /><ref name=SonntagsZeitung /> although these reports have not been officially confirmed.}} | relatives = Putin family | education = {{ubl|Leningrad State University (LLB)|Leningrad Mining Institute (Candidate of Sciences)}} | signature = Putin signature.svg | website = {{URL|en.putin.kremlin.ru}} | allegiance = Soviet Union Russia | branch = {{ubl|KGB|FSB|Russian Armed Forces}} | service_years = {{ubl|1975–1991|1997–1999|2000–present}} | rank = {{ubl|Colonel|1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation}} | commands = Supreme Commander-in-Chief | battles = {{ubl|Second Chechen War|Russo-Georgian War|Russo-Ukrainian War|Syrian Civil War|Central African Republic Civil War}} | awards = Full list | module = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Voice of Vladimir Putin (24.2.2022).ogg|title=Vladimir Putin's voice|type=speech|description=Putin declaring a "special military operation" in Ukraine Recorded 24 February 2022}} | module2 = {{Infobox martial artist|child=yes | rank = {{color box|black}} ''8th Dan–Judo''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.eju.net/8th-dan-attributed-to-vladimir-putin/ |title=8th Dan attributed to Vladimir Putin|publisher=eju.net|date=10 April 2012 |accessdate=2026-01-29}}</ref> {{color box|black}} ''8th Dan–Karate''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cfts-karate.co.uk/post/vladimir-putin-earns-honorary-8th-dan-kyokushin |title=Vladimir Putin Earns Honorary 8th Dan Kyokushin|publisher=cfts-karate.co.uk|date=6 April 2016 |accessdate=2026-01-29}}</ref> | years_active = 1963–present }} }} {{Putin sidebar}}

'''Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin'''{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|uː|t|ɪ|n}} {{respell|POO|tin}}; {{langx|ru|Владимир Владимирович Путин|links=no}}, {{IPA|ru|vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ ˈputʲɪn|pron|Ru-Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.ogg|small=no}}{{Family name footnote|Vladimirovich|Putin|lang=Eastern Slavic}}}} (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000{{efn|Putin, who took office as prime minister on 9 August 1999, concurrently served as acting president of Russia from 31 December 1999 to 7 May 2000, when he took office as president.}} and again from 2008 to 2012.{{efn|Many argued that Putin was the ''de facto'' leader of Russia between 2008 and 2012; see Medvedev–Putin tandemocracy.}}<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date=9 August 2019 |title=Timeline: Vladimir Putin – 20 tumultuous years as Russian President or PM |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-putin-timeline-idUSKCN1UZ185 |access-date=29 November 2021 |work=Reuters |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129195453/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-putin-timeline-idUSKCN1UZ185 |url-status=live }}</ref> He has been described as the ''de facto'' leader of Russia since 1999.<ref>{{refbegin|2}} * {{Cite news |author=Paul Kirby |date=17 March 2024 |title=Vladimir Putin: Russia's action man president |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-15047823 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326221957/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-15047823 |archive-date=26 March 2022 |website=BBC News |language=en}} * {{Cite web |author=Andrew Roth |date=5 April 2021 |title=Vladimir Putin passes law that may keep him in office until 2036 |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/05/vladimir-putin-passes-law-that-may-keep-him-in-office-until-2036 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118081700/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/05/vladimir-putin-passes-law-that-may-keep-him-in-office-until-2036 |archive-date=18 November 2022 |access-date=15 November 2022 |website=The Guardian |language=en |quote=After serving his first two terms in office, Putin assumed the post of prime minister in 2008 due to term limits but nonetheless remained the country's de facto leader}} * {{Cite web |year=2022 |title=Russia: Freedom in the World 2022 Country Report |url=https://freedomhouse.org/country/russia/freedom-world/2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221114154349/https://freedomhouse.org/country/russia/freedom-world/2022 |archive-date=14 November 2022 |website=Freedom House |language=en |quote=He served two four-year presidential terms from 2000 to 2008, then remained the de facto paramount leader while working as prime minister until he returned to the presidency in 2012, violating the spirit if not the letter of the constitution's two-term limit}} * {{Cite web |author=Данила Гальперович |date=2 February 2019 |title=Четвертый срок Путина: как пройдет и чем кончится? |url=https://www.golosameriki.com/a/putin-ponars-experts/4769656.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115113417/https://www.golosameriki.com/a/putin-ponars-experts/4769656.html |archive-date=15 November 2022 |website=Голос Америки |language=ru}} * {{Cite book |author=Vladimir Gelman |title=Routledge Handbook of Russian Politics and Society |publisher=Routledge |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-00-321823-4 |pages=22–32 |language=en |chapter=Putin's Era |doi=10.4324/9781003218234-4 |chapter-url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003218234-4/putin-era-vladimir-gel-man |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115113417/https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003218234-4/putin-era-vladimir-gel-man |archive-date=15 November 2022 |url-status=live}} * {{Cite news |author1=Sergey Radchenko |author2=Baurzhan Rakhmetov |date=6 August 2020 |title=Putin Is Ruling Russia Like a Central Asian Dictator |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/06/putin-ruling-russia-like-a-kazakhstan-kyrgyzstan-uzbekistan-tajikistan-belarus-central-asian-dictator/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806165312/https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/06/putin-ruling-russia-like-a-kazakhstan-kyrgyzstan-uzbekistan-tajikistan-belarus-central-asian-dictator/ |archive-date=6 August 2020 |newspaper=Foreign Policy |language=en |quote=In office since 2000, when he was first elected president, Putin has ruled Russia continuously for two decades. (He did step down briefly, taking the position of prime minister from 2008 to 2012, but no one had any illusions as to who actually remained in charge)}}

''Reuters'' and ''The Washington Post'' have called him the ''de facto'' leader since 31 December 1999:

* {{Cite news |author1=David Filipov |author2=Andrew Rot |date=6 December 2017 |title=Vladimir Putin says he'll run for reelection. Nobody is surprised |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/vladimir-putin-says-hell-run-for-reelection-nobody-is-surprised/2017/12/06/4f44cb8a-da93-11e7-a241-0848315642d0_story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191017044755/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/vladimir-putin-says-hell-run-for-reelection-nobody-is-surprised/2017/12/06/4f44cb8a-da93-11e7-a241-0848315642d0_story.html |archive-date=17 October 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en |quote=Putin has been the de facto leader of Russia since Boris Yeltsin resigned on New Year's Eve 1999}} * {{Cite web |author=Guy Faulconbridge |date=3 May 2022 |title=Putin puts West on notice: Moscow can terminate exports and deals |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-signs-decree-new-retaliatory-sanctions-against-west-kremlin-2022-05-03/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221107055005/https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-signs-decree-new-retaliatory-sanctions-against-west-kremlin-2022-05-03/ |archive-date=7 November 2022 |access-date=15 November 2022 |website=Reuters |language=en |quote=Putin, Russia's paramount leader since 1999, signed <...>}}{{refend}}</ref>

Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), Putin worked as a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He resigned in 1991 to begin a political career in Saint Petersburg. In 1996, Putin moved to Moscow to join the administration of President Boris Yeltsin. He briefly served as the director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and then as secretary of the Security Council of Russia before being appointed prime minister in August 1999. Following Yeltsin's resignation, Putin became acting president and, less than three months later in March 2000, was elected to his first term as president. He was reelected in 2004. Due to constitutional limitations on two consecutive presidential terms, Putin served as prime minister again from 2008 to 2012 under Dmitry Medvedev. He returned to the presidency in 2012, following an election marked by allegations of fraud and protests, and was reelected in 2018.

During Putin's initial presidential tenure, the Russian economy grew on average by seven percent per year as a result of several economic reforms and a fivefold increase in the price of oil and gas.<ref name="Putin 2007" /><ref name="Fragile Empire 2013 page 17" /> Additionally, Putin led Russia in a conflict against Chechen separatists, re-establishing federal control over the region.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date=24 January 2013 |title=Fighting in volatile Chechnya kills 13 rebels, police: agency |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-chechnya-violence/fighting-in-volatile-chechnya-kills-13-rebels-police-agency-idUSBRE90N0LW20130124 |work=Reuters |access-date=11 November 2023 |archive-date=9 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190909001955/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-chechnya-violence/fighting-in-volatile-chechnya-kills-13-rebels-police-agency-idUSBRE90N0LW20130124 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date=17 October 2011 |title=Putin Warns 'Mistakes' Could Bring Back '90s Woes |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/putin_mistakes_could_bring_back_1990s_woes/24362626.html |publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |access-date=11 November 2023 |archive-date=9 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509201850/https://www.rferl.org/a/putin_mistakes_could_bring_back_1990s_woes/24362626.html |url-status=live }}</ref> While serving as prime minister under Medvedev, he oversaw the Russo-Georgian War, alongside enacting military and police reforms. In his third presidential term, Russia occupied and annexed Crimea as well as supported a war in eastern Ukraine through several military incursions, resulting in international sanctions, which, together with a drop in oil prices on the international markets, led to the financial crisis in Russia.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last=Kramer |first=Andrew E. |date=18 February 2020 |title=Pessimistic Outlook in Russia Slows Investment, and the Economy |website=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/18/business/russia-economic-growth.html |access-date=22 March 2023 |archive-date=15 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220215102525/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/18/business/russia-economic-growth.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Additionally, he ordered a military intervention in Syria to support his ally, President {{nowrap|Bashar al-Assad}}, during the Syrian civil war. In April 2021, after a referendum, he signed constitutional amendments into law that included one allowing him to run for reelection twice more, potentially extending his presidency to 2036.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-04-05 |title=Putin signs law allowing him 2 more terms as Russia's leader |url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-putin-signs-law-allows-2-more-terms-d9acdada71b75c3daeafb389782fed4b |access-date=2025-12-28 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2021-04-06 |title=Putin signs law allowing him to run for two more terms as Russian President |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/05/europe/putin-russia-presidential-term-intl-hnk |access-date=2025-12-28 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref> In February 2022, during his fourth presidential term, Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which prompted international condemnation and led to expanded sanctions. In September 2022, he announced a partial mobilization and forcibly annexed four Ukrainian oblasts into Russia. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title=Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova |url=https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-ukraine-icc-judges-issue-arrest-warrants-against-vladimir-vladimirovich-putin-and |access-date=24 April 2023 |publisher=International Criminal Court |archive-date=17 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317151628/https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-ukraine-icc-judges-issue-arrest-warrants-against-vladimir-vladimirovich-putin-and |url-status=live }}</ref> related to his alleged criminal responsibility for illegal child abductions during the war.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date=17 March 2023 |title=International court issues war crimes warrant for Putin |url=https://apnews.com/article/icc-putin-war-crimes-ukraine-9857eb68d827340394960eccf0589253 |access-date=24 March 2023 |website=AP News |language=en |archive-date=17 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317153603/https://apnews.com/article/icc-putin-war-crimes-ukraine-9857eb68d827340394960eccf0589253 |url-status=live }}</ref> In March 2024, he was reelected to another term.

Under Putin's rule, the Russian political system has been transformed into an authoritarian dictatorship with a personality cult. His rule has been marked by endemic corruption and widespread human rights violations, including the imprisonment and suppression of political opponents, intimidation and censorship of independent media in Russia, and a lack of free and fair elections.<ref name="Gill-20162">{{cite book |last=Gill |first=Graeme |url=http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/russian-and-east-european-government-politics-and-policy/building-authoritarian-polity-russia-post-soviet-times?format=HB&isbn=9781107130081 |title=Building an Authoritarian Polity: Russia in Post-Soviet Times |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-107-13008-1 |edition=hardback |access-date=11 November 2023 |archive-date=24 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180724222211/http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/russian-and-east-european-government-politics-and-policy/building-authoritarian-polity-russia-post-soviet-times?format=HB&isbn=9781107130081 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Reuter-20172">{{Cite book |last=Reuter |first=Ora John |url=http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ref/id/CBO9781316761649 |title=The Origins of Dominant Parties: Building Authoritarian Institutions in Post-Soviet Russia |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-76164-9 |edition=E-book |doi=10.1017/9781316761649 |access-date=24 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211113905/http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ref/id/CBO9781316761649 |archive-date=11 December 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Frye |first=Timothy |url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691212463/weak-strongman |title=Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin's Russia |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-691-21246-3 |page={{page needed |date=February 2022}} |access-date=11 November 2023 |archive-date=25 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220225005434/https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691212463/weak-strongman |url-status=live}}</ref> Russia has consistently received very low scores on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, ''The Economist Democracy Index'', Freedom House's ''Freedom in the World'' index, and the Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index.

== Early life and education == Putin was born on 7 October 1952 in Leningrad, known as Saint Petersburg since 1991, in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Prime Minister of the Russian Federation – Biography |url = http://premier.gov.ru/eng/premier/biography.html |date = 14 May 2010 |access-date = 31 July 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100514164020/http://premier.gov.ru/eng/premier/biography.html |archive-date = 14 May 2010 |url-status = dead }}</ref> He is the youngest of three children born to Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin and Maria Ivanovna Putina ({{née|Shelomova}}). His grandfather, Spiridon Putin, was a personal cook to Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Putin says grandfather cooked for Stalin and Lenin |url = https://www.reuters.com/article/russia-putin-family/putin-says-grandfather-cooked-for-stalin-and-lenin-idINKCN1GN0P7 |work = Reuters |date = 11 March 2018 |access-date = 30 January 2021 |archive-date = 26 February 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220226111344/https://www.reuters.com/article/russia-putin-family/putin-says-grandfather-cooked-for-stalin-and-lenin-idINKCN1GN0P7 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Sebestyen |first=Victor |title=Lenin the Dictator |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |location=London |year=2018 |page=422 |isbn=978-1-4746-0105-4}}</ref> Putin's birth was preceded by the deaths of two brothers: Albert, born in the 1930s, died in infancy, and Viktor, born in 1940, died of diphtheria and starvation in 1942 during the Siege of Leningrad by German forces in World War II.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Barry |first = Ellen |date = 27 January 2012 |title = At Event, a Rare Look at Putin's Life |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/28/world/europe/vladimir-putin-describes-loss-of-a-brother-at-ceremony.html |url-status = live |work = The New York Times |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120128115602/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/28/world/europe/vladimir-putin-describes-loss-of-a-brother-at-ceremony.html |archive-date = 28 January 2012 |access-date = 27 March 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/putins-brother-died-siege-leningrad-which-bears-striking-resemblance-syrian-crisis-1585531 |title = Putin's brother died in Siege of Leningrad, which bears striking resemblance to Syrian crisis |last = Pasha-Robinson |first = Lucy |date = 9 October 2016 |website = International Business Times |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161010174822/https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/putins-brother-died-siege-leningrad-which-bears-striking-resemblance-syrian-crisis-1585531 |archive-date = 10 October 2016 |url-status = live |access-date = 27 March 2022 }}</ref>

Putin's mother was a factory worker, and his father was a conscript in the Soviet Navy, serving in the submarine fleet in the early 1930s. During the early stage of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, his father served in the destruction battalion of the NKVD.<ref name="first-person">{{cite book |title=First Person |author1=Vladimir Putin |author2=Nataliya Gevorkyan |author3=Natalya Timakova |author4=Andrei Kolesnikov |others=trans. Catherine A. Fitzpatrick |year=2000 |publisher=PublicAffairs |page=[https://archive.org/details/firstpersonaston00puti/page/208 208] |isbn=978-1-58648-018-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/firstpersonaston00puti/page/208}}</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/p/putin-first.html First Person An Astonishingly Frank Self-Portrait by Russia's President Vladimir Putin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312213049/http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/p/putin-first.html |date=12 March 2018 }} ''The New York Times'', 2000.</ref><ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-mar-19-mn-10446-story.html Putin's Obscure Path From KGB to Kremlin]. ''Los Angeles Times'', 19 March 2000.</ref> Later, he was transferred to the regular army and was severely wounded in 1942.<ref name="sakwa_p3">{{harv |Sakwa |2008 |p=3}}</ref> Putin's maternal grandmother was killed by the German occupiers of the Tver region in 1941, and his maternal uncles disappeared on the Eastern Front during World War II.<ref>Sakwa, Richard. ''Putin Redux: Power and Contradiction in Contemporary Russia'' (2014), p. 2.</ref>

=== Education === thumb|left|upright|Putin, {{circa|1960s}}

On 1 September 1960, Putin started at School No. 193 at Baskov Lane, near his home. He was one of a few in his class of about 45 pupils who were not yet members of the Young Pioneer (''Komsomol'') organization. At the age of 12, he began to practice sambo and judo.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://russia.rin.ru/guides_e/2637.html |title = Prime Minister |publisher = Russia.rin.ru |access-date = 24 September 2011 |archive-date = 11 February 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220211191445/https://russia.rin.ru/guides_e/2637.html |url-status = live }}</ref> In his free time, he enjoyed reading the works of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Lenin.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jzf8FsShUgC&q=marx |title=Putin's Progress: A Biography of Russia's Enigmatic President, Vladimir Putin |first=Peter |last=Truscott |via=Google Books |page=40 |isbn=978-0-7434-9607-0 |date=2005 |publisher=Pocket Books |access-date=25 February 2022 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405024632/https://books.google.com/books?id=2jzf8FsShUgC&q=marx |url-status=live}}</ref> Putin attended Saint Petersburg High School 281 with a German language immersion program.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.haaretz.com/news/world/1.582099 |title = In Tel Aviv, Putin's German Teacher Recalls 'Disciplined' Student |work = Haaretz |date = 26 March 2014 |access-date = 16 April 2016 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151119182033/http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/1.582099 |archive-date = 19 November 2015 }}</ref> He is fluent in German and has given speeches and interviews in that language.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1pLgS3vad0 |title=Russian President speaks at Reichstag |website=www.youtube.com |date=25 September 2001}}</ref>

Putin studied law at the Leningrad State University named after Andrei Zhdanov (now Saint Petersburg State University) in 1970 and graduated in 1975.<ref name="hoffman" /> His thesis was on "The Most Favored Nation Trading Principle in International Law."<ref>Lynch, Allen. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=uT1aD0D5FRAC&pg=PA15 Vladimir Putin and Russian Statecraft]'', p. 15 (Potomac Books 2011).</ref> While there, he was required to join the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU); he remained a member until it ceased to exist in 1991.<ref>Владимир Путин. ''От Первого Лица''. [http://www.kremlin.ru/articles/bookchapter6.shtml Chapter 6] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090630150907/http://www.kremlin.ru/articles/bookchapter6.shtml |date=30 June 2009}}</ref> Putin also met Anatoly Sobchak, an assistant professor who taught business law,{{Efn|{{langx|ru|хозяйственное право|khozyaystvennoye pravo}}.}} who later became the co-author of the Russian constitution. Putin was influential in Sobchak's career in Saint Petersburg, and Sobchak was influential in Putin's career in Moscow.<ref name="Vlast">{{cite book |last=Pribylovsky |first=Vladimir |script-title=ru:Власть – 2010 (60 биографий) |year=2010 |publisher=Panorama |isbn=978-5-94420-038-9 |pages=132–139 |chapter-url=http://scilla.ru/works/knigi/vlast2010.pdf |author-link=Vladimir Pribylovsky |location=Moscow |language=ru |chapter=Valdimir Putin |access-date=1 August 2010 |archive-date=31 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130731145504/http://scilla.ru/works/knigi/vlast2010.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1997, Putin received a degree in economics (''Candidate of Economic Sciences'') at the Saint Petersburg Mining University for a thesis on energy dependencies and their instrumentalisation in foreign policy.<ref name=mvart1>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.gazeta.ru/2006/03/28/oa_193799.shtml |author = Vartanov, Mikhail |title = Путина не смогли завалить 'чёрные рецензенты' |trans-title = Putin could not fill up 'black reviewers' |language = ru |publisher = Gazeta.Ru |date = 28 March 2006 |access-date = 30 August 2022 |archive-date = 18 August 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160818065327/https://www.gazeta.ru/2006/03/28/oa_193799.shtml |url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name="dwd24">{{cite news |title=Russia's energy empire: Putin and the rise of Gazprom |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akihe-AtpW8 |agency=YouTube |publisher=DW Documentary |date=3 February 2024 |access-date=4 February 2024 |archive-date=4 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204024723/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akihe-AtpW8 |url-status=live}}</ref> His supervisor was Vladimir Litvinenko, who in 2000 and again in 2004 managed his presidential election campaigns in St Petersburg.<ref name="idcg06">{{cite news |last1=Danchenko |first1=Igor |last2=Gaddy |first2=Clifford |title=The Mystery of Vladimir Putin's Dissertation |url=https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Putin-Dissertation-Event-remarks-with-slides.pdf |publisher=The Brookings Institution |date=30 March 2006 |access-date=6 February 2024 |archive-date=25 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225145253/https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Putin-Dissertation-Event-remarks-with-slides.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Igor Danchenko and Clifford Gaddy consider Putin to be a plagiarist according to Western standards. One book from which he copied entire paragraphs is the Russian-language edition of King and Cleland's ''Strategic Planning and Policy'' (1978).<ref name="idcg06" /> Balzer wrote on the Putin thesis and Russian energy policy and concludes along with Olcott that "The primacy of the Russian state in the country's energy sector is non-negotiable", and cites the insistence on majority Russian ownership of any joint-venture, particularly since BASF signed the Gazprom Nord Stream-Yuzhno-Russkoye deal in 2004 with a 49–51 structure, as opposed to the older 50–50 split of BP's TNK-BP project.<ref name=balzer05>Harley Balzer, "The Putin Thesis and Russian Energy Policy" ''Post-Soviet Affairs'', 2005, 21, 3, pp. 210–225.</ref>

== Intelligence career == {{Main|Intelligence career of Vladimir Putin}}

[[File:Vladimir Putin in KGB uniform (cropped 2).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Putin in the KGB, {{circa|1980}}]]

In 1975, Putin joined the KGB and trained at the 401st KGB School in Okhta, Leningrad.<ref name="stp">{{#invoke:cite|web|title = When Was St. Petersburg Known as Petrograd and Leningrad? |url = http://geography.about.com/od/politicalgeography/fl/When-Was-St-Petersburg-Known-as-Petrograd-and-Leningrad.htm |publisher = About.com |first = Matt |last = Rosenberg |date = 12 August 2016 |access-date = 16 September 2016 |archive-date = 5 February 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170205031730/http://geography.about.com/od/politicalgeography/fl/When-Was-St-Petersburg-Known-as-Petrograd-and-Leningrad.htm |url-status = dead }}</ref> After training, he worked in the Second Chief Directorate (counterintelligence) before he was transferred to the First Chief Directorate, where he monitored foreigners and consular officials in Leningrad.<ref name="stp" /><ref>{{harv|Sakwa|2008|pp=8–9}}</ref><ref name="hoffman">{{#invoke:cite|news|first = David |last = Hoffman |date = 30 January 2000 |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/russiagov/putin.htm |title = Putin's Career Rooted in Russia's KGB |newspaper = The Washington Post |access-date = 23 May 2021 |archive-date = 23 June 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190623173752/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/russiagov/putin.htm |url-status = live }}</ref> In September 1984, Putin was sent to Moscow for further training at the Yuri Andropov Red Banner Institute.<ref name="Hutchins2012">{{cite book |author=Chris Hutchins |title=Putin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4kqWFqR0MPwC&pg=PA40 |year=2012 |publisher=Troubador Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-78088-114-0 |page=40 |quote=But these were the honeymoon days and she was already expecting their first child when he was sent to Moscow for further training at the Yuri Andropov Red Banner Institute in September 1984 ... At Red Banner, students were given a nom de guerre beginning with the same letter as their surname. Thus, Comrade Putin became Comrade Platov. |access-date=19 January 2019 |archive-date=11 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111195808/https://books.google.com/books?id=4kqWFqR0MPwC&pg=PA40#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Jack2005">{{cite book |author=Andrew Jack |title=Inside Putin's Russia: Can There Be Reform without Democracy? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OPdcCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT66 |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-029336-9 |page=66 |quote=He returned to work in Leningrad's First Department for intelligence for four and a half years, and then attended the elite Andropov Red Banner Institute for intelligence training before his posting to the German Democratic Republic in 1985. |access-date=19 January 2019 |archive-date=11 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111195809/https://books.google.com/books?id=OPdcCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT66#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="PutinGevorkyan2000">{{cite book |author1=Vladimir Putin |author2=Nataliya Gevorkyan |author3=Natalya Timakova |author4=Andrei Kolesnikov |title=First Person: An Astonishingly Frank Self-Portrait by Russia's President Vladimir Putin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gcDv5Qww_2AC&pg=PA53 |date=2000 |publisher=Public Affairs |isbn=978-0-7867-2327-0 |page=53 |quote=I worked there for about four and a half years, and then I went to Moscow for training at the Andropov Red Banner Institute, which is now the Academy of Foreign Intelligence. |access-date=19 January 2019 |archive-date=11 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111195814/https://books.google.com/books?id=gcDv5Qww_2AC&pg=PA53#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png|thumb|left|The Stasi identity card of Vladimir Putin, who worked in Dresden as a KGB liaison officer to the Stasi<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title=Putin's Stasi spy ID pass found in Germany |work=BBC News |date=11 December 2018 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46525543 |access-date=8 April 2023 |archive-date=24 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324084844/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46525543 |url-status=live}}</ref>]]

From 1985 to 1990, he served in Dresden, East Germany,<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date = 9 October 2006 |title = Putin set to visit Dresden, the place of his work as a KGB spy, to tend relations with Germany |url = http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/09/europe/EU_GEN_Germany_Russia.php |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090326123503/http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/09/europe/EU_GEN_Germany_Russia.php |archive-date = 26 March 2009 |website = International Herald Tribune }}</ref> using a cover identity as a translator.<ref name="M. Gessen p. 60">{{Cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol-57-no-4/the-man-without-a-face-the-unlikely-rise-of-vladimir-putin-and-mr-putin-operative-in-the-kremlin.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140727161603/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol-57-no-4/the-man-without-a-face-the-unlikely-rise-of-vladimir-putin-and-mr-putin-operative-in-the-kremlin.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 July 2014 |title=The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin and Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin — Central Intelligence Agency |website=www.cia.gov |language=en |access-date=23 October 2020}}</ref> While posted in Dresden, Putin served as one of the KGB's liaison officers to the Stasi secret police and was reportedly promoted to lieutenant colonel. According to the official Kremlin presidential site, the East German communist regime commended Putin with a bronze medal for "faithful service to the National People's Army." Putin has publicly conveyed delight over his activities in Dresden, once recounting his confrontations with East Germany's anti-communist protestors of 1989 who attempted to occupy the city's Stasi buildings.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date=11 December 2018 |title=Putin's Stasi spy ID pass found in Germany |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46525543 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324084844/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46525543 |archive-date=24 March 2022 |access-date=8 April 2023 |website=BBC News }}</ref>

"Putin and his colleagues were reduced mainly to collecting press clippings, thus contributing to the mountains of useless information produced by the KGB", Russian-American Masha Gessen wrote in their 2012 biography of Putin.<ref name="M. Gessen p. 60" /> His work was also downplayed by former Stasi spy chief Markus Wolf and Putin's former KGB colleague Vladimir Usoltsev. Journalist Catherine Belton wrote in 2020 that this downplaying was actually a cover for Putin's involvement in KGB coordination and support for the terrorist Red Army Faction (RAF), whose members frequently hid in East Germany with the support of the Stasi. Dresden was preferred as a "marginal" town with only a small presence of Western intelligence services.<ref name="politico1">{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Belton |first = Catherine |author-link = Catherine Belton |title = Did Vladimir Putin Support Anti-Western Terrorists as a Young KGB Officer? |url = https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/20/vladimir-putin-dresden-kgb-330203 |work = Politico |year = 2020 |access-date = 30 June 2020 |archive-date = 12 February 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220212021450/https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/20/vladimir-putin-dresden-kgb-330203 |url-status = live }}</ref> According to an anonymous source who claimed to be a former RAF member, at one of these meetings in Dresden, the militants presented Putin with a list of weapons that were later delivered to the RAF in West Germany. Klaus Zuchold, who claimed to be recruited by Putin, said that Putin handled a neo-Nazi, Rainer Sonntag, and attempted to recruit the author of a study on poisons.<ref name="politico1" /> Putin reportedly met Germans to be recruited for wireless communications affairs, together with an interpreter. He was involved in wireless communications technologies in South-East Asia due to trips of German engineers, recruited by him, there and to the West.<ref name="hoffman" /> However, a 2023 investigation by ''Der Spiegel'' reported that the anonymous source had never been an RAF member and is "considered a notorious fabulist" with "several previous convictions, including for making false statements."<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date=7 June 2023|title=Were Vladimir Putin's Years in Germany Less Thrilling than the Stories?|url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/were-vladimir-putin-s-years-in-germany-less-thrilling-than-the-stories-a-178de140-b799-472d-83bc-5e3b1adf65b2|author-last1=Röbel|author-first1=Sven|author-last2=Tietze|author-first2=Wolfgang|access-date=3 June 2023|work=Der Spiegel|archive-date=7 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607092338/https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/were-vladimir-putin-s-years-in-germany-less-thrilling-than-the-stories-a-178de140-b799-472d-83bc-5e3b1adf65b2|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to Putin's official biography, during the fall of the Berlin Wall that began on 9 November 1989, he saved the files of the Soviet Cultural Center (House of Friendship) and of the KGB villa in Dresden for the official authorities of the would-be united Germany to prevent demonstrators, including KGB and Stasi agents, from obtaining and destroying them. He then supposedly burnt only the KGB files, in a few hours, but saved the archives of the Soviet Cultural Center for the German authorities. Nothing is written about the selection criteria during this burning; for example, regarding Stasi files or files of other agencies of the German Democratic Republic or of the USSR. He explained that many documents were left in Germany only because the furnace burst; however, many documents of the KGB villa were sent to Moscow.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-runner-up-vladimir-putin/ |title = Vladimir Putin, The Imperialist |magazine = Time |access-date = 11 December 2014 |date = 10 December 2014 |archive-date = 1 March 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220301153733/https://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-runner-up-vladimir-putin/ |url-status = live }}</ref>

After the collapse of the Communist East German government, Putin was to resign from active KGB service because of suspicions aroused regarding his loyalty during demonstrations in Dresden and earlier, although the KGB and the Soviet Army still operated in eastern Germany. He returned to Leningrad in early 1990 as a member of the "active reserves", where he worked for about three months with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University, reporting to Vice-Rector Yuriy Molchanov, while working on his doctoral dissertation.<ref name="hoffman" />

There, he looked for new KGB recruits, watched the student body, and renewed his friendship with his former professor, Anatoly Sobchak, who was soon afterward elected the Mayor of Leningrad. Putin said that he resigned with the rank of lieutenant colonel on 20 August 1991,<ref name="R. Sakwa p. 10">{{cite book |last=Sakwa |first=Richard |title=Putin : Russia's Choice |year=2007 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon, Oxon |isbn=978-0-415-40765-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJcixDNh_m4C |edition=2nd |access-date=11 June 2012 |page=10 |archive-date=11 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111195816/https://books.google.com/books?id=DJcixDNh_m4C |url-status=live}}</ref> on the second day of the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt against Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev.<ref>{{harv|Sakwa|2008|pp=10–11}}</ref> Putin stated: "As soon as the coup began, I immediately decided which side I was on", although he said that the choice was hard because he had spent the best part of his life with "the organs".<ref>{{harv|Sakwa|2008|p=11}}</ref>

== Political career == {{Main|Political career of Vladimir Putin}}

{{Further|Russia under Vladimir Putin|Putinism|List of speeches given by Vladimir Putin|Politics of Russia}}

Putin's political rise began in the Saint Petersburg administration (1990–1996), where in May 1990, he was appointed as an advisor on international affairs to Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. Shortly thereafter, in June 1991, he became the head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayor's Office, overseeing the promotion of international ties, foreign investment, and the registration of business ventures. Though his tenure was marred by investigations from the city legislative council concerning discrepancies in asset valuation and the export of metals, Putin retained his position until 1996. During the mid-1990s, he expanded his responsibilities in Saint Petersburg, serving as first deputy head of the city administration and leading the local branch of the pro-government political party Our Home Is Russia, as well as participating in advisory roles with regional newspapers.

[[File:Funeral of Boris Yeltsin-23.jpg|thumb|Bill Clinton, Vladimir Putin, his wife Ludmila Putina, and George H. W. Bush at the state funeral of Boris Yeltsin on 23 April 2007]] Transitioning to the national scene in 1996, Putin was called to Moscow following the electoral defeat of Sobchak, where he assumed the role of Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department. In this capacity, he was responsible for managing the transfer of former Soviet assets to the Russian Federation. His career in Moscow advanced rapidly with his appointment in 1997 as deputy chief of the Presidential Staff and later as chief of the Main Control Directorate of the same department. A pivotal moment came in 1998 when President Boris Yeltsin appointed him director of the FSB, Russia's primary intelligence and security agency. In this role, Putin concentrated on reorganising and strengthening the agency after years of perceived decline, a period that would prove formative for his later approach to governance.

In 1999, Putin described communism as "a blind alley, far away from the mainstream of civilization".<ref name="NYorker eclipse">{{Cite magazine |last=Remick |first=David |author-link=David Remnick |date=3 August 2014 |title=Watching the Eclipse |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/11/watching-eclipse |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105191353/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/11/watching-eclipse |archive-date=5 January 2022 |access-date=3 August 2014 |magazine=The New Yorker |issue=11}}</ref> By 1999, Zyuganov was the evident frontrunner for the first round of the pending 2000 presidential election.<ref name="simes">{{cite book |last1=Simes |first1=Dimitri K |url=https://archive.org/details/aftercollapserus00sime |title=After the Collapse |date=1999 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-684-82716-6 |location=New York City |url-access=registration}}</ref> However, by the autumn of 1999, Vladimir Putin had overtaken Zyuganov as leading candidate in the polls.<ref name="rew4">{{cite web |author= |date=November 1999 |title=RUSSIAN ELECTION WATCH No. 4, November 1999 |url=https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/files/electionbulletin11-99.doc |access-date=29 October 2018 |website=www.belfercenter.org |publisher=Harvard University (John F. Kennedy School of Government) |archive-date=30 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030090713/https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/files/electionbulletin11-99.doc |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In August 1999, Putin's profile increased substantially when he was named one of the three First Deputy Prime Ministers, and later the acting Prime Minister following the dismissal of Sergei Stepashin's cabinet. Endorsed by Yeltsin as his preferred successor, Putin quickly capitalized on his law-and-order reputation and rose in popularity, winning the presidential election in March 2000 and being inaugurated on 7 May 2000. Throughout his subsequent terms, alternately serving as president and Prime Minister, Putin has overseen extensive reforms aimed at consolidating state power, restructuring federal relations, and curbing the influence of oligarchs. His tenure has been punctuated by significant foreign policy actions, including the controversial annexation of Crimea in 2014, military interventions in Syria, and ongoing involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian War, including a full-scale war with Ukraine since 2022.

== Domestic policies == {{Main|Domestic policy of Vladimir Putin}}

{{See also|Freedom of assembly in Russia|Media freedom in Russia|Internet censorship in Russia}} {{Further|2011–2013 Russian protests|2017–2018 Russian protests|Bolotnaya Square case}}

Putin's domestic policies, particularly early in his first presidency, were aimed at creating a vertical power structure. On 13 May 2000, he issued a decree organizing the 89 federal subjects of Russia into seven administrative federal districts and appointed a presidential envoy responsible for each of those districts (whose official title is Plenipotentiary Representative).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hyde |first=Matthew |date=2001 |title=Putin's Federal Reforms and Their Implications for Presidential Power in Russia |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/826367 |journal=Europe-Asia Studies |volume=53 |issue=5 |pages=719–743 |doi=10.1080/09668130120060242 |jstor=826367 |issn=0966-8136}}</ref>

[[File:Map of Russian districts, 2016-07-28.svg|thumb|In May 2000, Putin introduced seven federal districts for administrative purposes. In January 2010, the 8th North Caucasus Federal District (shown here in purple) was split from the Southern Federal District. In March 2014, the new 9th Crimean Federal District was formed after the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. In July 2016, it was incorporated into the Southern Federal District.]]

According to Stephen White, under the presidency of Putin, Russia made it clear that it had no intention of establishing a "second edition" of the American or British political system, but rather a system that was closer to Russia's own traditions and circumstances.<ref>{{cite book |last1=White |first1=Stephen |editor1-first=Stephen |editor1-last=White |title=Developments in Russian Politics 7 |year=2010 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=New York |isbn=978-0-230-22449-0 |chapter=Classifying Russia's Politics}}</ref> Some commentators have described Putin's administration as a "sovereign democracy".<ref>{{harv|Sakwa|2008|pp= 42–43}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Okara |first1=Andrei |title=Sovereign Democracy: A New Russian Idea Or a PR Project? |journal=Russia in Global Affairs |date=July–September 2007 |volume=5 |issue=3 |url=http://kms2.isn.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/RESSpecNet/39702/ichaptersection_singledocument/576378B1-E97E-4EC1-9894-FB6F430EA76E/en/02+Sover+Democracy.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410080227/http://kms2.isn.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/RESSpecNet/39702/ichaptersection_singledocument/576378B1-E97E-4EC1-9894-FB6F430EA76E/en/02+Sover+Democracy.pdf |archive-date=10 April 2016}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last1 = Petrov |first1 = Nikolai |title = From Managed Democracy to Sovereign Democracy |date = December 2005 |url = https://www.gwu.edu/~ieresgwu/assets/docs/ponars/pm_0396.pdf |publisher = Center for Political-Geographic Research |access-date = 28 March 2016 |archive-date = 11 October 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171011165345/https://www2.gwu.edu/~ieresgwu/assets/docs/ponars/pm_0396.pdf |url-status = dead }}</ref> According to the proponents of that description (primarily Vladislav Surkov), the government's actions and policies ought above all to enjoy popular support within Russia itself and not be directed or influenced from outside the country.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://www.edinros.ru/news.html?id=111148 |title = Sovereignty is a Political Synonym of Competitiveness |last = Surkov |first = Vladislav |date = 7 February 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080212215743/http://www.edinros.ru/news.html?id=111148 |archive-date = 12 February 2008 |url-status = dead |access-date = 18 August 2016 }}</ref>

The practice of the system is characterized by Swedish economist Anders Åslund as manual management, commenting: "After Putin resumed the presidency in 2012, his rule is best described as 'manual management' as the Russians like to put it. Putin does whatever he wants, with little consideration for the consequences, with one important caveat. During the Russian financial crash of August 1998, Putin learned that financial crises are politically destabilizing and must be avoided at all costs. Therefore, he cares about financial stability".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/the-illusions-of-putin-s-russia |title = The Illusions of Putin's Russia |last = Åslund |first = Anders |website = Atlantic Council |date = 6 May 2019 |access-date = 16 June 2019 }}</ref>

The period after 2012 saw mass protests against the falsification of elections, censorship, and the toughening of free assembly laws. In July 2000, according to a law proposed by Putin and approved by the Federal Assembly of Russia, Putin gained the right to dismiss the heads of the 89 federal subjects. In 2004, the direct election of those heads (usually called "governors") by popular vote was replaced with a system whereby they would be nominated by the president and approved or disapproved by regional legislatures.<ref>Lynch, Dov (2005). [https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2005.00442.x "The enemy is at the gate": Russia after Beslan]. ''International Affairs'' 81 (1), 141–161.</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3650966.stm Putin tightens grip on security], ''BBC News'', 13 September 2004.</ref>

This was seen by Putin as a necessary move to stop separatist tendencies and get rid of those governors who were connected with organized crime.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://radiovesti.ru/articles/2011-12-15/fm/24575 |title = Президентское фильтрование губернаторов оценили политики |publisher = Radiovesti.ru |access-date = 7 May 2012 |archive-date = 24 February 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130224031439/http://radiovesti.ru/articles/2011-12-15/fm/24575 |url-status = dead }}</ref> This and other government actions effected under Putin's presidency have been criticized by many independent Russian media outlets and Western commentators as anti-democratic.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Kramer |first = Andrew E. |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/world/europe/22russia.html?pagewanted=print |title = 50% Good News Is the Bad News in Russian Radio |location = Russia |work = The New York Times |date = 22 April 2007 |access-date = 24 September 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|author1 = Masha Lipman |author2 = Anders Aslund |url = http://www.carnegieendowment.org/events/index.cfm?fa=eventDetail&id=745 |title = Russian Media Criticism of Vladimir Putin: Evidence and Significance |newspaper = Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |date = 2 December 2004 |access-date = 2 March 2010 }}</ref>

During his first term in office, Putin opposed some of the Yeltsin-era business oligarchs, as well as his political opponents, resulting in the exile or imprisonment of such people as Boris Berezovsky, Vladimir Gusinsky, and Mikhail Khodorkovsky; other oligarchs such as Roman Abramovich and Arkady Rotenberg are friends and allies with Putin.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.forbes.com/profile/arkady-rotenberg/ |title = Arkady Rotenberg |work = Forbes |year = 2013 |access-date = 23 December 2013 }}</ref> Putin succeeded in codifying land law and tax law and promulgated new codes on labour, administrative, criminal, commercial, and civil procedural law.<ref name="sharlet">{{cite book |last=Sharlet |first=Robert |title=Developments in Russian Politics |editor=White |editor2=Gitelman |editor3=Sakwa |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2005 |volume=6 |chapter=In Search of the Rule of Law |isbn=978-0-8223-3522-1}}</ref> Under Medvedev's presidency, Putin's government implemented some key reforms in the area of state security, the Russian police reform and the Russian military reform.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Main, John. |title=Russia country study guide : army and national. |date=2009 |publisher=Intl Business Pubns Usa |isbn=978-1-4387-4042-3 |location=[Place of publication not identified] |oclc=946230798}}</ref> During Putin's rule, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation has changed from radical, civil war-threatening to a component of the "systemic opposition" with criticism rarely more than rhetorical.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dubow |first1=Ben |title=With Enemies Like Russia's Communists, Putin Doesn't Need Friends |url=https://cepa.org/article/with-enemies-like-russias-communists-putin-doesnt-need-friends/ |website=With Enemies Like Russia’s Communists, Putin Doesn’t Need Friends |date=8 February 2022 |access-date=28 October 2025}}</ref>

=== Economic, industrial, and energy policies === {{See also|Economy of Russia|Energy policy of Russia|Great Recession in Russia|Russian financial crisis (2014–2016)|Economic impact of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine}} [[File:GDP of Russia since 1989.svg|thumb|Russian GDP since the collapse of the Soviet Union]]

Sergey Guriyev, when talking about Putin's economic policy, divided it into four distinct periods: the "reform" years of his first term (1999–2003); the "statist" years of his second term (2004—the first half of 2008); the world economic crisis and recovery (the second half of 2008–2013); and the Russo-Ukrainian War, Russia's growing isolation from the global economy, and stagnation (2014–present).<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last = Guriyev |first = Sergey |author-link = Sergei Guriev |date = 16 August 2019 |title = 20 Years of Vladimir Putin: The Transformation of the Economy |url = https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/08/16/20-years-of-vladimir-putin-the-transformation-of-the-economy-a66854 |access-date = 15 October 2020 |website = Moscow Times }}</ref>

In 2000, Putin launched the "Programme for the Socio-Economic Development of the Russian Federation for the Period 2000–2010", but it was abandoned in 2008 when it was 30% complete.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last1 = Aris |first1 = Ben |last2 = Tkachev |first2 = Ivan |date = 19 August 2019 |title = Long Read: 20 Years of Russia's Economy Under Putin, in Numbers |url = https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/08/19/long-read-russias-economy-under-putin-in-numbers-a66924 |access-date = 15 October 2020 |website = Moscow Times }}</ref> Fueled by the 2000s commodities boom including record-high oil prices,<ref name="Putin 2007">''Putin: Russia's Choice'', (Routledge 2007), by Richard Sakwa, Chapter 9.</ref><ref name="Fragile Empire 2013 page 17">Judah, Ben, ''Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell In and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin'', Yale University Press, 2013, p. 17</ref> under the Putin administration from 2000 to 2016, an increase in income in USD terms was 4.5 times.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last = Becker |first = Torbjörn |title = The Russian Economy Under Putin (So Far) |url = https://freepolicybriefs.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/freepolicybrief_mar15.pdf |date = 15 March 2018 |access-date = 16 October 2020 |website = freepolicybriefs.org |publisher = Free Network |page = 3 }}</ref> During Putin's first eight years in office, industry grew substantially, as did production, construction, real incomes, credit, and the middle class.<ref name="russiaprofile">{{#invoke:cite|web|first1 = Katya |last1 = Malofeeva |first2 = Tim |last2 = Brenton |url = http://russiaprofile.org/politics/a1187177738.html |title = Putin's Economy – Eight Years On |publisher = Russia Profile |date = 15 August 2007 |access-date = 23 April 2008 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141018214852/http://russiaprofile.org/politics/a1187177738.html |archive-date = 18 October 2014 }}</ref><ref name="challenges_of_medv_era">Iikka. Korhonen ''et al.'' [http://www.suomenpankki.fi/en/suomen_pankki/organisaatio/asiantuntijoita/Documents/bon0608.pdf The challenges of the Medvedev era] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320025511/http://www.suomenpankki.fi/en/suomen_pankki/organisaatio/asiantuntijoita/Documents/bon0608.pdf |date=20 March 2012}}. Bank of Finland's Institute for Economies in Transition, 24 June 2008.</ref> A fund for oil revenue allowed Russia to repay the Soviet Union's debts by 2005. Russia joined the World Trade Organization in August 2012.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url=https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/a1_russie_e.htm|title=WTO {{!}} Accessions: Russian Federation|website=wto.org|access-date=14 March 2019}}</ref>

In 2006, Putin launched an industry consolidation programme to bring the main aircraft-producing companies under a single umbrella organization, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC).<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date = 21 February 2006 |title = Владимир Путин учредил открытое акционерное общество "Объединенная авиастроительная корпорация" |trans-title = Vladimir Putin established the United Aircraft Corporation, an open joint stock company |url = http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/35095 |access-date = 16 October 2020 |website = Президент России |language = ru }}</ref><ref name="ato1">{{cite journal |url=http://www.ato.ru/content/state-sponsored-consolidation |title=State-sponsored consolidation |last1=Zvereva |first1=Polina |journal=Russia & CIS Observer |issue=26 |volume=3 |date=11 October 2009}}</ref> In September 2020, the UAC general director announced that the UAC will receive the largest-ever post-Soviet government support package for the aircraft industry in order to pay and renegotiate the debt.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title=UAC to receive largest post Soviet govt support package {{!}} CAPA|url=https://centreforaviation.com/news/uac-to-receive-largest-post-soviet-govt-support-package-1027593|access-date=16 October 2020|website=centreforaviation.com}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date = 1 September 2020 |title = Объединенная авиастроительная корпорация задолжала банкам полтриллиона рублей |trans-title = United Aircraft Corporation owes banks half a trillion rubles |url = https://www.vesti.ru/finance/article/2451850 |access-date = 16 October 2020 |website = vesti.ru |language = ru }}</ref> [[File:Russia and China sign major gas deal.jpeg|thumb|Putin, Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller, CNPC General Manager Zhou Jiping, and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Russian economy is heavily dependent on the export of natural resources such as oil and natural gas.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title=Western sanctions push Russia's energy revenues to lowest since 2020 |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/western-sanctions-push-russias-energy-revenues-lowest-level-since-2020-2023-02-03/ |work=Reuters |date=3 February 2023}}</ref> ]] In 2014, Putin signed a deal to supply China with 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. Power of Siberia, which Putin has called the "world's biggest construction project", was launched in 2019 and is expected to continue for 30 years at an ultimate cost to China of $400bn.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date = 2 December 2019 |title = Russia, China launch gas pipeline 'Power of Siberia' |url = https://www.dw.com/en/russia-china-launch-gas-pipeline-power-of-siberia/a-51500187 |access-date = 8 November 2020 |publisher = Deutsche Welle }}</ref> The ongoing financial crisis began in the second half of 2014 when the Russian ruble collapsed due to a decline in the price of oil and international sanctions against Russia. These events in turn led to loss of investor confidence and capital flight, although it has also been argued that the sanctions had little to no effect on Russia's economy.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|date = 24 March 2017 |title = Sanctions boost Russian economic resilience |publisher = Deutsche Welle |url = http://www.dw.com/en/sanctions-boost-russian-economic-resilience/av-38101070 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170331122109/http://www.dw.com/en/sanctions-boost-russian-economic-resilience/av-38101070 |archive-date = 31 March 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = How the Sanctions Are Helping Putin |work= Politico|first=Andrey|last=Movchan|date=28 March 2017|access-date=5 August 2023 |url = http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/how-the-sanctions-are-helping-putin-214963 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last1 = Kitroeff |first1 = Natalie Natalie |last2 = Weisenthal |first2 = Joe |date = 16 December 2014 |title = Here's Why the Russian Ruble Is Collapsing |publisher = Bloomberg L.P. |url = https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-12-16/no-caviar-is-not-getting-cheaper-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-russian-ruble-collapse }}</ref> In 2014, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project named Putin their Person of the Year for furthering corruption and organized crime.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://occrp.org/person-of-the-year/2014/ |title = OCCRP 2014 Person of the Year |access-date = 31 December 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/vladimir-putin-named-person-year-innovation-organised-crime-1481739 |title = Vladimir Putin named Person of the Year for 'innovation' in 'organised crime' |work = International Business Times |date = 3 January 2015 }}</ref>

According to ''Meduza'', Putin has since 2007 predicted on several occasions that Russia will become one of the world's five largest economies. In 2013, he said Russia was one of the five biggest economies in terms of gross domestic product but still lagged behind other countries on indicators such as labour productivity.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://meduza.io/en/short/2018/05/08/when-will-russia-become-the-world-s-fifth-biggest-economy-don-t-ask-vladimir-putin |title = When will Russia become the world's fifth biggest economy? Don't ask Vladimir Putin. |work = Meduza |access-date = 9 May 2018 }}</ref> By the end of 2023, Putin planned to spend almost 40% of public expenditures on defense and security.<ref>{{cite news |title=Putin approves big military spending hikes for Russia's budget |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-approves-big-military-spending-hikes-russias-budget-2023-11-27/ |work=Reuters |date=27 November 2023}}</ref>

=== Environmental policy === {{Main|Environment of Russia|Environmental issues in Russia|Climate change in Russia}}

In 2004, Putin signed the Kyoto Protocol treaty designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Putin Ratifies Kyoto Protocol on Emissions |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/06/world/europe/putin-ratifies-kyoto-protocol-on-emissions.html |newspaper = The New York Times |date = 6 November 2004 |page = A1 |access-date = 16 October 2022 }}</ref> However, Russia did not face mandatory cuts, because the Kyoto Protocol limits emissions to a percentage increase or decrease from 1990 levels and Russia's greenhouse-gas emissions fell well below the 1990 baseline due to a drop in economic output after the breakup of the Soviet Union,<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://www.cfr.org/publication/13640/g8s_gradual_move_toward_postkyoto_climate_change_policy.html |title = G8's Gradual Move toward Post-Kyoto Climate Change Policy |author = Tony Johnson |publisher = Council on Foreign Relations |access-date = 2 March 2010 |archive-date = 29 December 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091229130613/http://www.cfr.org/publication/13640/g8s_gradual_move_toward_postkyoto_climate_change_policy.html |url-status = dead }}</ref> excluding emissions from land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Report on the technical review of the fourth biennial report of the Russian Federation |url=https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/trr4_RUS.pdf}}</ref>

In 2019 Russia joined the Paris Agreement.<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 September 2019 |title=Russia gives definitive approval to Paris climate accord |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-russia-idUSKBN1W8162 |access-date=24 May 2021}}</ref> Russia's goal is to reach net zero by 2060, but its energy strategy to 2035 is mostly about burning more fossil fuels.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nationally determined contribution of the Russian Federation |url=https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/ndcstaging/PublishedDocuments/Russia%20First/NDC_RF_eng.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=18 March 2022 |title=Does Russia have a climate plan to reduce carbon emissions? |url=https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/03/18/russia-says-sanctions-will-stop-it-cutting-carbon-emissions-but-does-it-have-a-climate-pla |access-date=26 March 2022 |website=euronews |language=en}}</ref> Reporting military emissions is voluntary and, as of 2024, no data is available since before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Military Emissions Gap – Tracking the long war that militaries are waging on the climate |url=https://militaryemissions.org/ |access-date=14 September 2024 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Putin described climate change as a concerning fact with big consequences for Russia. Though he expressed doubt that climate change was man-made, he stated that Russia will try to reduce man-made emissions with forests and "low-emission energy", such as natural gas, nuclear energy, and hydroenergy. He also argued that rich countries should provide finance and technology to those with less money for lower emissions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Valdai Discussion Club meeting |url=http://www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/75521 |website=Presidential Executive Office 2024 |date=7 November 2024 |access-date=15 December 2024}}</ref> Energy expert Tatiana Lanshina described his policy as "mimicry of climate policy", accusing him of turning environmentalism into a tool of political influence.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lanshina |first1=Tatiana |title=Climate control: How Russia turned environmentalism into a tool of political influence |url=https://theins.ru/en/economics/276652 |website=The Insider |access-date=15 December 2024}}</ref>

=== Religious policy === {{Main|Religion in Russia}}

thumb|Putin with religious leaders of Russia, February 2001 Putin regularly attends the most important services of the Russian Orthodox Church on the main holy days and has established a good relationship with Patriarchs of the Russian Church, the late Alexy II of Moscow and the current Kirill of Moscow. As president, Putin took an active personal part in promoting the Act of Canonical Communion with the Moscow Patriarchate, signed 17 May 2007, which restored relations between the Moscow-based Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia after the 80-year schism.<ref>{{cite press release |title=The President of Russia attended the ceremonial signing of the Act on Canonical Communion that was held in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour |publisher=Embassy of Russia in Ottawa |date=17 May 2007 |url=http://www.rusembcanada.mid.ru/pr2007/022.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211074427/http://www.rusembcanada.mid.ru/pr2007/022.html |archive-date=11 December 2008 |url-status=dead |access-date=2 October 2008}}</ref>

Under Putin, the Hasidic Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia became increasingly influential within the Jewish community, partly due to the influence of Federation-supporting businessmen mediated through their alliances with Putin, notably Lev Leviev and Roman Abramovich.<ref name="Russia">''No love lost'', Yossi Mehlman, ''Haaretz'', 11 December 2005.</ref><ref>Phyllis Berman Lea Goldman, (15 September 2003). [https://web.archive.org/web/20030905120347/http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/0915/108_print.html "Cracked De Beers"]. ''Forbes''.</ref> According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Putin is popular amongst the Russian Jewish community, who see him as a force for stability. Russia's chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, said Putin "paid great attention to the needs of our community and related to us with a deep respect".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last = Krichevsky |first = Lev |url = https://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishFeatures/Article.aspx?id=241225 |title="In Putin's return, Russian Jews see stability". Jewish Telegraphic Agency |website = The Jerusalem Post |date = 10 October 2011 |access-date = 22 June 2013 }}</ref> In 2016, Ronald S. Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress, also praised Putin for making Russia "a country where Jews are welcome".<ref name="wjcrussiafight">{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Ronald S. Lauder: Russia's fight against anti-Semitism isn't just good for Jews – it's good for Russia as well |url = http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/ronald-s-lauder-russias-fight-against-anti-semitism-isnt-just-good-for-jews--its-good-for-russia-as-well-11-2-2016 |website = World Jewish Congress |access-date = 1 November 2016 |date = 1 November 2016 }}</ref>

Human rights organizations and religious freedom advocates have criticized the state of religious freedom in Russia.<ref name="WaPost-2016">{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Missionaries are struggling to work under new Russia law banning proselytizing |newspaper = The Washington Post |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/09/20/missionaries-struggle-to-work-in-russia-under-new-law-that-bans-proselytizing/ |year = 2016 }}</ref> In 2016, Putin oversaw the passage of legislation that prohibited missionary activity in Russia.<ref name="WaPost-2016" /> Nonviolent religious minority groups have been repressed under anti-extremism laws, especially Jehovah's Witnesses.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Russia's mysterious campaign against Jehovah's Witnesses |url = https://abcnews.go.com/International/russias-mysterious-campaign-jehovahs-witnesses/story?id=78629389 |access-date = 4 March 2022 |publisher = ABC News }}</ref> One of the 2020 amendments to the Constitution of Russia directly refers to belief in God.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Constitution of the Russia Federation |url = https://rm.coe.int/constitution-of-the-russian-federation-en/1680a1a237 |date = 4 February 2021 |work = Council of Europe |access-date = 5 March 2022 }}</ref>

=== Military development === {{Main|2008 Russian military reform}}

[[File:Vostok-2018 military manoeuvres (2018-09-13) 23.jpg|thumb|Putin with Russia's long-serving Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (left) and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov at the Vostok 2018 military exercise]] The resumption of long-distance flights of Russia's strategic bombers was followed by the announcement by Russian defense minister Anatoliy Serdyukov during his meeting with Putin on 5 December 2007, that 11 ships, including the aircraft carrier ''Kuznetsov'', would take part in the first major navy sortie into the Mediterranean since Soviet times.<ref>Guy Faulconbridge [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-navy-idUSL0518563620071205 Russian navy to start sorties in Mediterranean]. Reuters. 5 December 2007.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://president.kremlin.ru/appears/2007/12/05/1940_type63378_153373.shtml |script-title = ru:Начало встречи с Министром обороны Анатолием Сердюковым |trans-title = Start of the meeting with Defence Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov |language = ru |publisher = Kremlin.ru |date = 5 December 2007 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080608051601/http://president.kremlin.ru/appears/2007/12/05/1940_type63378_153373.shtml |archive-date = 8 June 2008 }}</ref>

Key elements of the reform included reducing the armed forces to a strength of one million, reducing the number of officers, centralizing officer training from 65 military schools into 10 systemic military training centers, creating a professional NCO corps, reducing the size of the central command, introducing more civilian logistics and auxiliary staff, elimination of cadre-strength formations, reorganizing the reserves, reorganizing the army into a brigade system, and reorganizing air forces into an airbase system instead of regiments.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rieas.gr/research-areas/global-issues/russian-studies/104.html |title=Reforming The Russian Military: Problems And Prospects |access-date=12 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504155608/http://www.rieas.gr/research-areas/global-issues/russian-studies/104.html |archive-date=4 May 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[File:№ 3009 А.И. Старчков.jpg|thumb|Russian postage stamp honoring a soldier killed in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]] According to the Kremlin, Putin embarked on a build-up of Russia's nuclear capabilities because of U.S. president George W. Bush's unilateral decision to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Majumdar |first = Dave |date = 1 March 2018 |title = Russia's Nuclear Weapons Buildup Is Aimed at Beating U.S. Missile Defenses |url = https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/russias-nuclear-weapons-buildup-aimed-beating-us-missile-24716 |work = The National Interest |location = US |access-date = 26 October 2018 }}</ref> To counter what Putin sees as the United States' goal of undermining Russia's strategic nuclear deterrent, Moscow has embarked on a program to develop new weapons capable of defeating any new American ballistic missile defense or interception system. Some analysts believe that this nuclear strategy under Putin has brought Russia into violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.<ref name="Hurlbert-2018">{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Hurlbert |first = Heather |date = 26 October 2018 |title = Russia Violated an Arms Treaty. Trump Ditched It, Making the Nuclear Threat Even Worse. |url = https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/russias-nuclear-weapons-buildup-aimed-beating-us-missile-24716 |work = National Interest |location = New York |access-date = 26 October 2018 }}</ref>

Accordingly, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would no longer consider itself bound by the treaty's provisions, raising nuclear tensions between the two powers.<ref name="Hurlbert-2018" /> This prompted Putin to state that Russia would not launch first in a nuclear conflict but that "an aggressor should know that vengeance is inevitable, that he will be annihilated, and we would be the victims of the aggression. We will go to heaven as martyrs".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|author =  |date = 19 October 2018 |title = Aggressors Will Be Annihilated, We Will Go to Heaven as Martyrs, Putin Says |url = https://themoscowtimes.com/news/aggressors-will-be-annihilated-we-will-go-to-heaven-as-martyrs-putin-says-63235 |work = Moscow Times |location = Russia |access-date = 26 October 2018 }}</ref>

Putin has also sought to increase Russian territorial claims in the Arctic and its military presence there. In August 2007, Russian expedition Arktika 2007, part of research related to the 2001 Russian territorial extension claim, planted a flag on the seabed at the North Pole.<ref name="pole_flag">{{#invoke:cite|news|author = William J. Broad |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/world/europe/19arctic.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1311810481-IXSrMDBjzhfGopGmYcf6tw |title = Russia's Claim Under Polar Ice Irks American |work = The New York Times |date = 19 February 2008 |access-date = 27 July 2011 }}</ref> Both Russian submarines and troops deployed in the Arctic have been increasing.<ref name="Military_buildup1">{{#invoke:cite|news|author = Adrian Blomfield |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/2111507/Russia-plans-Arctic-military-build-up.html |archive-url = https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/2111507/Russia-plans-Arctic-military-build-up.html |archive-date = 10 January 2022 |url-access = subscription |url-status = live |title = Russia plans Arctic military build-up |work = The Daily Telegraph |date = 11 June 2008 |access-date = 27 July 2011 |location = London }}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="Military_buildup2">{{#invoke:cite|news|author = Mia Bennett |url = http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/2011/07/04/russia-arctic-states-solidifying-northern-military-presence/ |title = Russia, Like Other Arctic States, Solidifies Northern Military Presence |newspaper = Foreign Policy Blogs |publisher = Foreign Policy Association |date = 4 July 2011 |access-date = 27 July 2011 }}</ref>

=== Human rights policy === {{Main|Human rights in Russia}}

{{See also|Dima Yakovlev Law|Russian foreign agent law|Russian Internet Restriction Bill}} [[File:Sun in the flags of protesters (50096710531).jpg|thumb|Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny attends a march in memory of assassinated opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, Moscow, 29 February 2020]]

New York City–based NGO Human Rights Watch, in a report titled ''Laws of Attrition'', authored by Hugh Williamson, the British director of HRW's Europe & Central Asia Division, has claimed that since May 2012, when Putin was reelected as president, Russia has enacted many restrictive laws, started inspections of non-governmental organizations, harassed, intimidated and imprisoned political activists, and started to restrict critics. The new laws include the "foreign agents" law, which is widely regarded as overbroad by including Russian human rights organizations that receive some international grant funding, the treason law, and the assembly law, which penalizes many expressions of dissent.<ref>[https://www.hrw.org/node/115059 "Laws of Attrition: Crackdown on Russia's Civil Society after Putin's Return to the Presidency"] (PDF), Human Rights Watch report, 24 April 2013.</ref><ref>[https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/24/russia-worst-human-rights-climate-post-soviet-era Russia: Worst Human Rights Climate in Post-Soviet Era, Unprecedented Crackdown on Civil Society] Human Rights Watch Summary, 24 April 2013.</ref> Human rights activists have criticized Russia for censoring speech of LGBT activists due to "the gay propaganda law"<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/04/kyrgyzstan-lgbt-community-fear-attacks-russia |title = 'We'll cut off your head': open season for LGBT attacks in Kyrgyzstan |last = North |first = Andrew |date = 4 May 2016 |work =The Guardian |access-date = 21 June 2017 |issn = 0261-3077 }}</ref> and increasing violence against LGBT+ people due to the law.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/01/russia-rise-homophobic-violence |title = Russian anti-gay law prompts rise in homophobic violence |last = Luhn |first = Alec |date = 1 September 2013 |work =The Guardian |access-date = 21 June 2017 |issn = 0261-3077 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/10/09/russian_lgbt_activists_on_the_effects_of_gay_propaganda_law.html |title = The Chilling Effects of Russia's Anti-Gay Law, One Year Later |last = Keating |first = Joshua |date = 9 October 2014 |work = Slate |access-date = 21 June 2017 |issn = 1091-2339 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russias-lgbt-youth-victimized-by-gay-propaganda-law-49524 |title = Russia's LGBT Youth Victimized by 'Gay Propaganda' Law|work=The Moscow Times|date = 14 September 2015 |access-date = 21 June 2017 }}</ref>

In 2020, Putin signed a law on labelling individuals and organizations receiving funding from abroad as "foreign agents". The law is an expansion of "foreign agent" legislation adopted in 2012.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date = 30 December 2020 |title = Putin Signs Controversial 'Foreign Agent' Law Expansion |url = https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/12/30/putin-signs-controversial-foreign-agent-law-expansion-a72524 |website = Moscow Times }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last = Odynova |first = Alexandra |date = 31 December 2020 |title = Putin ends 2020 by tightening the legal noose on press and individual freedoms |url = https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-vladimir-putin-ends-2020-laws-foreign-agents-limits-press-individual-freedoms/ |publisher = CBS News }}</ref>

As of June 2020, per the Memorial Human Rights Center, there were 380 political prisoners in Russia, including 63 individuals prosecuted, directly or indirectly, for political activities (including Alexey Navalny) and 245 prosecuted for their involvement with one of the Muslim organizations that are banned in Russia. 78 individuals on the list, i.e., more than 20% of the total, are residents of Crimea.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date = 4 October 2017 |title = Списки преследуемых|trans-title=Lists of persecuted|url = https://memohrc.org/ru/content/spiski-presleduemyh |access-date = 11 October 2021 |website = Правозащитный центр «Мемориал» }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last1 = Council |first1 = Russian-speaking Community |date = 14 June 2021 |title = Russia's Political Prisoners Directory |url = https://amrusrights.wordpress.com/2021/06/14/russias-political-prisoners-directory/ |access-date = 11 October 2021 |website = American Russian-Speaking Association for Civil & Human Rights }}</ref> As of December 2022, more than 4,000 people were prosecuted for criticizing the war in Ukraine under Russia's war censorship laws.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last1=Weir |first1=Fred |title=In Russia, critiquing the Ukraine war could land you in prison |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2022/1205/In-Russia-critiquing-the-Ukraine-war-could-land-you-in-prison |work=CSMonitor.com |date=5 December 2022}}</ref>

=== The media === {{See also|Mass media in Russia|Media freedom in Russia|Propaganda in Russia}} [[File:Interview with Vladimir Putin to Tucker Carlson (2024-02-06) 04.jpg|thumb|Putin being interviewed by Tucker Carlson on 6 February 2024]] Scott Gehlbach, a professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, has claimed that since 1999, Putin has systematically punished journalists who challenge his official point of view.<ref>Scott Gehlbach, "Reflections on Putin and the Media". ''Post-Soviet Affairs'' 26#1 (2010): 77–87.</ref> Maria Lipman, an American writing in ''Foreign Affairs'' claims, "The crackdown that followed Putin's return to the Kremlin in 2012 extended to the liberal media, which had until then been allowed to operate fairly independently".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|author-link = Maria Lipman |title = How Putin Silences Dissent: Inside the Kremlin's Crackdown |work = Foreign Affairs |volume = 95#1 |year = 2016 |page = 38 }}</ref> The Internet has attracted Putin's attention because his critics have tried to use it to challenge his control of information.<ref>Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, ''The Red Web: The Struggle Between Russia's Digital Dictators and the New Online Revolutionaries'' (2015).</ref> Marian K. Leighton, who worked for the CIA as a Soviet analyst in the 1980s, says, "Having muzzled Russia's print and broadcast media, Putin focused his energies on the Internet."<ref>Marian K. Leighton, "Muzzling the Russian Media Again." (2016): 820–826.</ref>

Robert W. Orttung and Christopher Walker reported that "Reporters Without Borders, for instance, ranked Russia 148 in its 2013 list of 179 countries in terms of freedom of the press. It particularly criticized Russia for the crackdown on the political opposition and the failure of the authorities to vigorously pursue and bring to justice criminals who have murdered journalists. Freedom House ranks Russian media as "not free", indicating that basic safeguards and guarantees for journalists and media enterprises are absent.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://mercury.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/ISN/160446/ipublicationdocument_singledocument/121e51db-ebb0-430c-86f8-884fe87a38e8/en/Russian_Analytical_Digest_123.pdf |title= Russian Analytical Digest No.123 |author= Robert W. Orttung and Christopher Walker |date= 21 February 2013 |page= 2 to 5|ISSN= 1863-0421|publisher= Forschungsstelle Osteuropa, Bremen and Center for Security Studies |access-date= 22 February 2026 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160916100337/http://mercury.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/ISN/160446/ipublicationdocument_singledocument/121e51db-ebb0-430c-86f8-884fe87a38e8/en/Russian_Analytical_Digest_123.pdf |archive-date= 16 September 2016 }}</ref> About two-thirds of Russians use television as their primary source of daily news,<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last1=Goncharenko |first1=Roman |title=Russia's TV war against Ukraine |url=https://www.dw.com/en/how-russian-media-outlets-are-preparing-an-attack-on-ukraine/a-60801837 |work=Deutsche Welle |date=16 February 2022}}</ref> while around 85% of Russians get most of their information from Russian state media.<ref name="Time-Stengel">{{cite magazine |last1=Stengel |first1=Richard |date=20 May 2022 |title=Putin May Be Winning the Information War Outside of the U.S. and Europe |url=https://time.com/6179221/putin-information-war-column/ |magazine=TIME |access-date=16 June 2023 |archive-date=18 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818141722/https://time.com/6179221/putin-information-war-column/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the early 2000s, Putin and his circle began promoting the idea in Russian media that they are the modern-day version of the 17th-century Romanov tsars who ended Russia's "Time of Troubles", meaning they claim to be the peacemakers and stabilizers after the fall of the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Levin |first=Eve |date=Fall 2011 |title=Muscovy and Its Mythologies |journal=Kritika: Explorations in Russian & Eurasian History |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=773–788 |doi=10.1353/kri.2011.0058 |s2cid=159746900 |issn=1531-023X}}</ref> Since the 2022 Ukraine invasion, Putin has only once granted an interview to a Western journalist, namely Tucker Carlson in February 2024.<ref name="NYTimesInfo">{{Cite web |last1=Troianovski |first1=Anton |author-link1=Anton Troianovski |last2=Rutenberg |first2=Jim |author-link2=Jim Rutenberg |last3=Sonne |first3=Paul |date=6 February 2024 |title=Tucker Carlson Says His Putin Interview Will Be Shown on Thursday |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/06/world/europe/tucker-carlson-putin-interview.html |access-date=8 February 2024 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

=== Promoting conservatism === {{Conservatism in Russia}} [[File:Vladimir Putin in Pokrova Church (Turginovo) 03.jpg|thumb|Putin attends the Orthodox Christmas service in the village of Turginovo in Kalininsky District, Tver Oblast, 7 January 2016]] Putin has promoted explicitly conservative policies in social, cultural, and political matters, both at home and abroad. Putin has attacked globalism and neoliberalism and is identified by scholars with Russian conservatism.<ref name="conservatism">Sergei Prozorov, "Russian conservatism in the Putin presidency: The dispersion of a hegemonic discourse." ''Journal of Political Ideologies'' 10#2 (2005): 121–143.</ref> Putin has promoted new think tanks that bring together like-minded intellectuals and writers. For example, the Izborsky Club, founded in 2012 by the conservative right-wing journalist Alexander Prokhanov, stresses (i) Russian nationalism, (ii) the restoration of Russia's historical greatness, and (iii) systematic opposition to liberal ideas and policies.<ref>Marlene Laruelle, "The Izborsky Club, or the New Conservative Avant‐Garde in Russia." ''Russian Review'' 75#4 (2016): 626–644.</ref> Vladislav Surkov, a senior government official, has been one of the key economic consultants during Putin's presidency.<ref>Sirke Mäkinen, "Surkovian narrative on the future of Russia: making Russia a world leader." ''Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics'' 27#2 (2011): 143–165.</ref> Leonid Bershidsky analyzed Putin's interview with the ''Financial Times'' and concluded, "Putin is an imperialist of the old Soviet school, rather than a nationalist or a racist, and he has cooperated with, and promoted, people who are known to be gay".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last1 = Bershidsky |first1 = Leonid |title = Why Putin Sounds Alt-Right Though He Really Isn't |url = https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/06/28/why-putin-sounds-alt-right-though-he-really-isnt-a66212 |date = 28 June 2019 |website = Moscow Times |publisher = MoscowTimes LLC |access-date = 25 August 2020 }}</ref>

In cultural and social affairs, Putin has collaborated closely with the Russian Orthodox Church. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, head of the Church, endorsed his election in 2012 stating Putin's terms were like "a miracle of God".<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Gerlach |editor1-first=Julia |editor2-last=Töpfer |editor2-first=Jochen |title=The Role of Religion in Eastern Europe Today |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1F6vBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA135 |year=2014 |publisher=Springer |page=135 |isbn=978-3-658-02441-3}}</ref> Steven Myers reports, "The church, once heavily repressed, had emerged from the Soviet collapse as one of the most respected ... Now Kiril led the faithful directly into an alliance with the state".<ref>{{cite book |author=Myers |title=The New Tsar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1PO4DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA404 |year=2016 |page=404 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |isbn=978-0-345-80279-8}}</ref>

Mark Woods, a Baptist Union of Great Britain minister and contributing editor to ''Christian Today'', provides specific examples of how the Church has backed the expansion of Russian power into Crimea and eastern Ukraine.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|first = Mark |last = Woods |title = How the Russian Orthodox Church is backing Vladimir Putin's new world order |url = http://www.christiantoday.com/article/how.the.russian.orthodox.church.is.backing.vladimir.putins.new.world.order/81108.htm |website = Christian Today |date = 3 March 2016 }}</ref> Some Russian Orthodox believers consider Putin a corrupt and brutal strongman or even a tyrant. Others do not admire him but appreciate that he aggravates their political opponents. Still others appreciate that Putin defends some although not all Orthodox teachings, whether he believes in them himself.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url=https://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2016/9/19/dear-editors-at-the-new-york-times-vladimir-putin-is-a-russian-but-putin-is-not-russia |title=Dear editors at The New York Times: Vladimir Putin is a Russian, but Putin is not Russia |last=Mattingly |first=Terry |date=19 September 2016 |website=getreligion.org |publisher=Get Religion |access-date=27 February 2022 |quote="...{{nbsp}}divide these people into at least three groups{{nbsp}}..."}}, a response to {{#invoke:cite|news|first = Andrew |last = Higgins |title = In Expanding Russian Influence, Faith Combines With Firepower |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/world/europe/russia-orthodox-church.html |work = The New York Times |date = 13 September 2016 }}</ref>

On abortion, Putin stated: "In the modern world, the decision is up to the woman herself".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://fortune.com/2017/12/14/vladimir-putin-russia-abortion-pro-choice-press-conference/ |title = Guess What? Vladimir Putin Is a Pro-Choice Champion |date = 14 December 2017 |website = Moscow Times }}</ref> This put him at odds with the Russian Orthodox Church.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.iwmf.org/reporting/putin-the-pro-choice-champion/ |title = Putin the Pro-Choice Champion – IWMF |website = iwmf.org |date = 20 September 2018 }}</ref> In 2020, he supported efforts to reduce the number of abortions instead of prohibiting it.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/10/27/putin-orders-government-to-improve-abortion-prevention-efforts-a71865 |title = Putin Orders Government to Improve Abortion Prevention Efforts |date = 27 October 2020 |website = Moscow Times }}</ref> On 28 November 2023, during a speech to the World Russian People's Council, Putin urged Russian women to have "seven, eight, or even more children" and said "large families must become the norm, a way of life for all of Russia's people".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|author=Tom Porter |date=29 November 2023|title=Putin is urging women to have as many as 8 children after so many Russians died in his war with Ukraine|language=en-US |work=Business Insider |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-war-putin-urges-russians-8-kids-amid-demographic-crisis-2023-11 |access-date=29 November 2023}}</ref>

Putin supported the 2020 Russian constitutional referendum, which passed and defined marriage as a relationship between one man and one woman in the Constitution of Russia.<ref name="Times-3Mar20">{{#invoke:cite|news|last1 = Kramer |first1 = Andrew E. |date = 3 March 2020 |title = Putin Proposes Constitutional Ban on Gay Marriage |work = The New York Times |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/03/world/europe/putin-proposes-constitutional-ban-on-gay-marriage.html |access-date = 8 June 2020 }}</ref><ref name="Guardian-2Mar20">{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Roth |first = Andrew |date = 2 March 2020 |title = Putin submits plans for constitutional ban on same-sex marriage |work = The Guardian |url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/02/vladimir-putin-submits-plan-enshrine-marriage-between-man-woman-russia |access-date = 8 June 2020 }}</ref><ref name="MosTimes-2Mar20">{{#invoke:cite|news|date = 2 March 2020 |title = Putin Proposes to Enshrine God, Heterosexual Marriage in Constitution |work = Moscow Times |url = https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/03/02/putin-proposes-to-enshrine-god-heterosexual-marriage-in-constitution-a69491 |access-date = 8 June 2020 }}</ref>

=== International sporting events === [[File:Kylian Mbappé receives the best young player award at the 2018 Football World Cup Russia.jpg|thumb|Putin, FIFA president Gianni Infantino, French president Emmanuel Macron and Croatian former president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final in Russia, as French forward Kylian Mbappé receives the best young player award]] In 2007, Putin led a successful effort on behalf of Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2014 Winter Paralympics,<ref name="kremlin-2014">{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://media.kremlin.ru/2007_07_04_01_01.wmv |format = WMV |title = Sochi speech |website = Media.kremlin.ru |year = 2007 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070710000430/https://media.kremlin.ru/2007_07_04_01_01.wmv |archive-date = 10 July 2007 }}</ref> the first Winter Olympic Games to ever be hosted by Russia. In 2008, the city of Kazan won the bid for the 2013 Summer Universiade; on 2 December 2010, Russia won the right to host the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and 2018 FIFA World Cup, also for the first time in Russian history. In 2013, Putin stated that gay athletes would not face any discrimination at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.<ref>"[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24708739 Sochi 2014: Putin declares gay athletes welcome]", BBC (28 October 2013).</ref>

== Foreign policy == {{Main|Foreign policy of Vladimir Putin}}

{{See also|Foreign relations of Russia|List of international presidential trips made by Vladimir Putin}} [[File:World leaders attending the 2025 China Victory Day Parade (2).jpg|thumb|220x220px|Putin together with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during the 2025 China Victory Day Parade]] thumb|Putin's visit to the United States, November 2001 Generally, Putin's tenure experienced tensions with the West,<ref>{{cite web|date = 21 December 2021 |access-date = 22 September 2025|url = https://www.reuters.com/world/russias-putin-blames-west-tensions-europe-2021-12-21/|first=Alexei.|last=Anishchuk |website = Reuters |title = Putin says foreign foes use radical Islam to weaken Russia }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date = 21 December 2021 |access-date = 22 September 2025|url = https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-russia-putin-islam-idUKBRE99L0NS20131022 |website = Reuters |title = Putin blames West for tensions since end of Cold War. |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221206224503/https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-russia-putin-islam-idUKBRE99L0NS20131022 |archive-date = 6 December 2022 }}</ref> as well as stronger relations with China.<ref name=":82" />{{Rp|page=499}} Anna Borshchevskaya, in her 2022 book, summarizes Putin's main foreign policy objectives as originating in his 30 December 1999 document, which appeared on the government's website, "Russia at the Turn of the Millennium".<ref>Anna Borshchevskaya. ''Putin's War in Syria.'' I.B. Tauris Press. 2022. pp. 44–46.</ref> She presents Putin as orienting himself to the plan that "Russia is a country with unique values in danger of losing its unity{{snd}}which... is a historic Russian fear. This again points to the fundamental issue of Russia's identity issues{{snd}}and how the state had manipulated these to drive anti-Western security narratives to erode the US-led global order... Moreover, a look at Russia's distribution of forces over the years under Putin has been heavily weighted towards the south (Syria, Ukraine, Middle East), another indicator of the Kremlin's threat perceptions".<ref>Anna Borshchevskaya. ''Putin's War in Syria.'' I.B. Tauris Press. 2022. p. 44.</ref><ref>Lester Grau and Charles Bartles, ''The Russian Way of War'', p. 29.</ref>

Putin spoke favorably of artificial intelligence regarding foreign policy, "Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind. It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world".<ref name="Hoover Institution">{{#invoke:cite|web|last1 = Kotkin |first1 = Stephen |title = Technology and Governance in Russia: Possibilities |url = https://www.hoover.org/research/technology-and-governance-russia-possibilities |date = 3 October 2018 |website = Hoover Institution |access-date = 25 August 2020 }}</ref>

=== Asia-Pacific === {{See also|India–Russia relations|Shanghai Cooperation Organisation}}

[[File:Prime Minister Narendra Modi with President Vladimir Putin at Hyderabad House on 5 December 2025 (1).jpg|alt=Putin with Indian Prime Minister Modi in New Delhi|thumb|Putin with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, India, 5 December 2025]]

In 2012, Putin wrote an article in Indian newspaper ''The Hindu'', saying: "The Declaration on Strategic Partnership between India and Russia signed in October 2000 became a truly historic step".<ref>{{cite news|last = Putin |first = Vladimir |date = 24 December 2012 |title = For Russia, deepening friendship with India is a top foreign policy priority |language = en-IN |work = The Hindu |url = https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed//article62117930.ece |access-date = 26 February 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220226051445/https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed//article62117930.ece |archive-date = 26 February 2022 |issn = 0971-751X }}</ref><ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{cite news|url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20834910 |title = India, Russia sign new defence deals |work = BBC News |date = 24 December 2012 |access-date = 22 June 2013 }}</ref> India remains the largest customer of Russian military equipment, and the two countries share a historically strong strategic and diplomatic relationship.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/07/08/russia-india-relations/ |title = Why India and Russia Are Going to Stay Friends |work = Foreign Policy |first = Emily |last=Tamkin |date = 8 July 2020 |access-date = 2 February 2021 }}</ref> In October 2022, Putin described India and China as "close allies and partners".<ref>{{cite news|title = India, China allies stressed for dialogue on Ukraine conflict, says Putin |url = https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-china-allies-stressed-for-dialogue-on-ukraine-conflict-says-putin-101665771557100.html |work = Hindustan Times |date = 15 October 2022 }}</ref> Under Putin, Russia has maintained positive relations with the Asian states of SCO and BRICS, which include China, India, Pakistan, and post-Soviet states of Central Asia.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://thediplomat.com/2015/07/russias-pivot-to-asia-and-the-sco/ |title = Russia's 'Pivot to Asia' and the SCO |work = The Diplomat |date = 21 July 2015 |access-date = 2 January 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.cfr.org/councilofcouncils/global-memos/russia-and-brics-priorities-presidency |title = Russia and the BRICS: Priorities of the Presidency |work = Council of Councils |first = Sergey |last = Kulik |date = 7 July 2015 |access-date = 2 January 2020 |archive-date = 4 July 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200704191414/https://www.cfr.org/councilofcouncils/global-memos/russia-and-brics-priorities-presidency |url-status = dead }}</ref>

Putin and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe frequently met each other to discuss the Japan–Russia territorial disputes. Putin also voiced his willingness to construct a rail bridge between the two countries.<ref>{{cite web |last=Sharkov |first=Damien |date=18 July 2018 |title=Russia wants to build a rail bridge to Japan, linking Tokyo to Europe |url=https://www.newsweek.com/russia-wants-build-28-mile-bridge-japan-could-link-tokyo-europe-train-1029529 |access-date=4 March 2022 |website=Newsweek}}</ref> Despite numerous meetings, no agreement was signed before Abe's resignation in 2020.<ref>{{cite web |last=Abiru |first=Taisuke |title=Japan-Russia Relations in the Post-Abe Era |url=https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2021/03/japan-russia-relations-in-the-post-abe-era |access-date=4 March 2022 |website=Carnegie Moscow Center}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Resetting Japan-Russia Relations |url = https://thediplomat.com/2020/10/resetting-japan-russia-relations/ |access-date = 4 March 2022 |website = The Diplomat |language = en-US }}</ref> Putin also made the first Russian or Soviet leader to visit North Korea, meeting Kim Jong Il in July 2000, shortly after a visit to South Korea.<ref>{{cite news |last=Kirk |first=Don |date=20 July 2000 |title=Putin Is Acclaimed On Pyongyang Visit : After Decades of Sullen Isolation, North Korea Emerges as a Key Player |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/20/news/putin-is-acclaimed-on-pyongyang-visit-after-decades-of-sullen-isolation.html |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> [[File:SCO meeting (2022-09-16).jpg|thumb|Putin with Chinese president Xi Jinping and other leaders at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Uzbekistan on 16 September 2022]]

Putin made three visits to Mongolia and has enjoyed good relations with its neighbor. Putin and his Mongolian counterpart signed a permanent treaty on friendship between the two states in September 2019, further enhancing trade and cultural exchanges.<ref>{{cite web|title = Russia, Mongolia Sign New Treaty To Bring Partnership To 'Whole New Level' |url = https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-mongolia-sign-new-treaty-to-bring-partnership-to-whole-new-level-/30144655.html |publisher = Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |date = 3 September 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date = 4 September 2019 |title = Putin promises infrastructure investment in Mongolia |url = https://www.france24.com/en/20190904-putin-promises-infrastructure-investment-in-mongolia |access-date = 4 March 2022 |publisher = France 24 }}</ref> Putin became the first Russian or Soviet leader to visit Indonesia in half a century in 2007, resulting in the signing of an arms deal.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|author = Peter Walker |title = Putin signs Indonesia arms deal |newspaper = The Guardian |date = 6 September 2007 |url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/sep/06/indonesia.russia }}</ref> In another visit, Putin commented on long-standing ties and friendship between Russia and Indonesia.<ref>{{cite news|date = 19 May 2016 |title = Putin: Russia and Indonesia are Linked by Long-standing and Close Ties |url = https://setkab.go.id/en/putin-russia-and-indonesia-are-linked-by-long-standing-and-close-ties/ |access-date = 4 March 2022 |newspaper = Sekretariat Kabinet Republik Indonesia }}</ref> Russia has also boosted relations with Vietnam after 2011,<ref>{{cite journal |date=9 October 2012 |title=The Russia–Vietnam comprehensive partnership |url=https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2012/10/09/the-russia-vietnam-comprehensive-partnership/ |access-date=4 March 2022 |website=East Asia Forum |last1=Thayer |first1=Carlyle}}</ref> and with Afghanistan in the 2010s, giving military and economic aid.<ref>{{cite web|last=Hasrat-Nazimi |first=Waslat |title=Russia's new role in Afghanistan |date=2 March 2016 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/russias-new-role-in-afghanistan/a-19087432 |access-date=4 March 2022 |website=Deutsche Welle |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = Hamid Karzai and the Russia Connection |website = The Diplomat |date = 3 November 2017 |url = https://thediplomat.com/2017/11/hamid-karzai-and-the-russia-connection/ }}</ref> The relations between Russia and the Philippines received a boost in 2016 as Putin forged closer bilateral ties with his Filipino counterpart, Rodrigo Duterte.<ref>{{cite web|title = President Putin bestows Order of Friendship on Filipino |date = 22 November 2019 |url = https://www.arabnews.com/node/1587781/world |website=Arab News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Charlotte |last=England |title = Rodrigo Duterte tells Vladimir Putin: 'I just want to be friends' |website = The Independent |date = 28 November 2016 |url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/philippines-russia-rodrigo-duterte-tells-vladimir-putin-i-just-want-to-be-friends-a7443036.html }}</ref> Putin has good relations with Malaysia and its then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.<ref>{{cite news|first = Nile |last = Bowie |date = 10 September 2019 |title = The ties that bind Mahathir to Moscow |newspaper = Asia Times |url = https://asiatimes.com/2019/09/the-ties-that-bind-mahathir-to-moscow/ }}</ref> Putin criticized violence in Myanmar against the Rohingya minorities in 2017.<ref>{{cite web |date=5 September 2017 |title=Putin Condemns Myanmar Violence After Mass Rally in Chechnya |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2017/09/05/after-mass-rally-chechnya-putin-condemns-myanmar-violence-a58851 |access-date=4 March 2022 |website=The Moscow Times}}</ref> Following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, Russia has pledged to boost ties with the Myanmar military regime.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Russia working closely with post-coup Myanmar on military supplies – exporter |work = Reuters |date = 1 July 2021 |url = https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/russia-myanmar-cooperating-military-equipment-supplies-ifax-2021-07-21/ }}</ref>

In September 2007, Putin visited Indonesia, the first Russian leader to do so in over 50 years.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://brtsis.com/rrubb.htm |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071012181540/http://brtsis.com/rrubb.htm |archive-date = 12 October 2007 |title = Russia Courts Indonesia |publisher = Brtsis.com |date = 12 October 2007 |access-date = 24 September 2011 }}</ref> In the same month, Putin also attended the APEC meeting held in Sydney, Australia, where he met with Prime Minister John Howard and signed a uranium trade deal for Australia to sell uranium to Russia. This was the first visit by a Russian president to Australia.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Coorey |first = Phillip |title = Putin and Howard Sign Uranium Deal |url = https://www.smh.com.au/news/national/putin-and-howard-sign-uranium-deal/2007/09/07/1188783452227.html |work =The Sydney Morning Herald |date = 7 September 2007 |access-date = 14 October 2014 }}</ref> Putin again visited Australia for 2014 G20 Brisbane summit. The Abbott government denounced Putin's use of military force in Ukraine in 2014 as "bullying" and "utterly unacceptable".<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/29/tony-abbott-condemns-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-as-bullying Tony Abbott condemns Russian 'invasion of Ukraine' as bullying]; ''The Guardian''; 29 August 2014</ref> Amid calls to ban Putin from attending the 2014 G20 Summit, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he would "shirtfront" (challenge) the Russian leader over the shooting down of MH17 by Russian-backed rebels, which had killed 38 Australians.<ref>[https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-11/abbott-and-putin-meet-to-discuss-mh17-at-apec-summit/5883592?nw=0&r=HtmlFragment Tony Abbott discusses MH17 with Vladimir Putin at APEC; Kremlin says Russian president was not 'shirtfronted']; Australian Broadcasting Corporation; 12 November 2014</ref> Putin denied responsibility for the killings.<ref>[https://apnews.com/article/450ba5218bf24c6a9d5052cc346cbc4a The Latest: Putin denies Russia responsible for MH17 downing]; apnews.com; 26 May 2014</ref>

=== China === {{See also|China–Russia relations}} [[File:The seventh meeting between the heads of state of China, Russia and Mongolia in Beijing 20250902 01.jpg|thumb|Putin with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh in Beijing, China, 2 September 2025]] In the 21st century, Sino-Russian relations have significantly strengthened bilaterally and economically—the Treaty of Friendship, and the construction of the ESPO oil pipeline and the Power of Siberia gas pipeline formed a "special relationship" between the two great powers.<ref>{{cite web |last=Standish |first=Reid |date=1 September 2020 |title=China, Russia Deepen Their Ties Amid Pandemic, Conflicts With The West |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/china-russia-deepen-their-ties-amid-pandemic-conflicts-with-west/30814684.html |access-date=2 February 2021 |publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty}}</ref> Putin and Chinese leader Hu Jintao held their first meeting in December 2002. The two leaders met regularly, meeting face to face five or six times a year. Russian Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao also met regularly, with Wen quipping in 2007 that "We didn't even use prepared speeches."<ref name=":82">{{Cite book |last=Snow |first=Philip |title=China and Russia: Four Centuries of Conflict and Concord |date=2023 |isbn=978-0-300-16665-1 | publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven}}</ref>{{Rp|page=497}} China backed Russia in the Second Chechen War and regards to Russia's concerns of NATO expansion, while Russia backed China regarding the issues of Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang. The two countries also increasingly cooperated in the United Nations Security Council.<ref name=":82" />{{Rp|page=499}}

On the eve of a 2013 state visit to Moscow by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Putin remarked that the two nations were forging a special relationship.<ref>{{cite web |title=AFP: Chinese leader Xi, Putin agree key energy deals |url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jI8_kZmr2INskAt4erPYLeDxW9Zw?docId=CNG.456411c08037199e9bc2690b1b0726fa.211}}{{dead link|date=March 2026}}</ref> Xi visited the Operational Command Headquarters of the Russian Armed Forces, the first time a foreign leader visited the building.<ref name=":82" />{{Rp|page=506–507}} Ties have continued to deepen after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, with Russia increasingly becoming dependent on China while it is under large-scale international sanctions.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last1=Buckley |first1=Chris |last2=Myers |first2=Steven Lee |date=7 March 2022 |title='No Wavering': After Turning to Putin, Xi Faces Hard Wartime Choices for China |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/07/world/asia/putin-ukraine-china-xi.html |access-date=10 March 2022 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

=== Post-Soviet states === {{Further|Colour revolution|Russia–Ukraine relations|Belarus–Russia relations|Georgia–Russia relations|Armenia–Russia relations|Azerbaijan–Russia relations|Kyrgyzstan–Russia relations|Kazakhstan–Russia relations|Eurasian Economic Union}} {{See also|Commonwealth of Independent States}} [[File:USSR Republics numbered by alphabet.svg|upright=1.35|thumb|Post-Soviet states in English alphabetical order: {{flatlist|{{ordered list|Armenia|Azerbaijan|Belarus|Estonia|Georgia|Kazakhstan|Kyrgyzstan|Latvia|Lithuania|Moldova|Russia|Tajikistan|Turkmenistan|Ukraine|Uzbekistan}}}}]]

Under Putin, the Kremlin has consistently stated that Russia has a sphere of influence and "privileged interests" over other post-Soviet states, which are referred to as the "near abroad" in Russia. It has also been stated that the post-Soviet states are strategically vital to Russian interests.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Kramer |first = Andrew E. |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/01/world/europe/01russia.html |title = Russia Claims Its Sphere of Influence in the World |website = The New York Times |date = 31 August 2008 |access-date = 3 August 2021 }}</ref> Some Russia experts have compared this concept to the Monroe Doctrine.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Safire |first = William |url = https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/22/magazine/on-language-the-near-abroad.html |title = On Language – The Near Abroad |website = The New York Times |date = 22 May 1994 |access-date = 3 August 2021 }}</ref>

A series of so-called colour revolutions in the post-Soviet states, namely the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003, the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004, and the Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan in 2005, led to frictions in the relations of those countries with Russia. In December 2004, Putin criticized the Rose and Orange revolutions, saying: "If you have permanent revolutions, you risk plunging the post-Soviet space into endless conflict."<ref name="blueandorange">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4122721.stm Polish head rejects Putin attack], ''BBC News'' (24 December 2004).</ref>

Putin allegedly declared at a NATO-Russia summit in 2008 that if Ukraine joined NATO, Russia could contend to annex the Ukrainian East and Crimea.<ref>[http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/91772/ "After Russian Invasion of Georgia, Putin's Words Stir Fears about Ukraine"], ''Kyiv Post'' (30 November 2010).</ref> At the summit, he told U.S. President George W. Bush that "Ukraine is not even a state!", while the following year, Putin referred to Ukraine as "Little Russia".<ref>Bohm, M. ''[https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2013/12/24/ukraine-is-putins-favorite-vassal-a30782 Ukraine Is Putin's Favorite Vassal]''. ''Moscow Times''. 25 December 2013.</ref> Following the Revolution of Dignity in March 2014, the Russian Federation annexed Crimea.<ref name="walker-the-guardian-2014-descend">{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Walker |first = Shaun |date = 4 March 2014 |url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/04/ukraine-crisis-russian-troops-crimea-john-kerry-kiev |title = Russian takeover of Crimea will not descend into war, says Vladimir Putin |newspaper = The Guardian |location = London |access-date = 4 March 2014 }}</ref><ref name="bloomberg-news-2014-request">{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-04/russia-calls-ukraine-intervention-legal-citing-yanukovych-letter.html |title = Russia Stays in Ukraine as Putin Channels Yanukovych Request |first1 = Sangwon |last1 = Yoon |first2 = Daryna |last2 = Krasnolutska |first3 = Kateryna |last3 = Choursina |date = 4 March 2014 |access-date = 5 March 2014 |work = Bloomberg News }}</ref><ref name="Radyuhin">{{#invoke:cite|news|url = http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/russian-parliament-approves-use-of-force-in-crimea/article5739708.ece |title = Russian Parliament approves use of army in Ukraine |work = The Hindu |date = 1 March 2014 |first = Vladimir |last = Radyuhin |location = Chennai, India }}</ref> According to Putin, this was done because "Crimea has always been and remains an inseparable part of Russia."<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Vladimir Putin signs treaty for Russia to take Crimea from Ukraine – video |url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/mar/18/vladimir-putin-annex-crimea-russia-ukraine-video |access-date = 28 December 2014 |work =The Guardian |date = 18 March 2014 }}</ref>

[[File:CSTO Summit 2022 02.jpg|thumb|Putin hosted a meeting of the Russian-led military alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), in Moscow on 16 May 2022.]] After the Russian annexation of Crimea, he said that Ukraine includes "regions of Russia's historic south" and "was created on a whim by the Bolsheviks".<ref name="cbsnews.com">{{#invoke:cite|news|url = http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-president-vladimir-putin-approves-draft-bill-to-annex-crimea-after-residents-vote-to-leave-ukraine/ |publisher = CBS News |title = Russia President Vladimir Putin signs treaty to annex Crimea after residents vote to leave Ukraine |date = 18 March 2014 }}</ref> He went on to declare that the February 2014 ousting of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych had been orchestrated by the West as an attempt to weaken Russia.<ref name="cbsnews.com" /> In a July 2014 speech during the Russian-supported armed insurgency in Eastern Ukraine, Putin stated he would use Russia's "entire arsenal of available means" up to "operations under international humanitarian law and the right of self-defense" to protect Russian speakers outside Russia.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/vladimir-putin/10951644/Has-Vladimir-Putin-blinked-over-Ukraine.html |archive-url = https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/vladimir-putin/10951644/Has-Vladimir-Putin-blinked-over-Ukraine.html |archive-date = 10 January 2022 |url-access = subscription |url-status = live |title = Has Vladimir Putin blinked over Ukraine? |newspaper = The Daily Telegraph |date = 7 July 2014 |access-date = 22 March 2018 }}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date = 1 July 2014 |title= |script-title = ru:Совещание послов и постоянных представителей России |trans-title = Conference of Russian ambassadors and permanent representatives |url = http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/46131 |access-date = 12 December 2021 |website = President of Russia |language = ru |quote = И хочу, чтобы все понимали: наша страна будет и впредь энергично отстаивать права русских, наших соотечественников за рубежом, использовать для этого весь арсенал имеющихся средств: от политических и экономических – до предусмотренных в международном праве гуманитарных операций, права на самооборону. }}</ref>

In late August 2014, Putin stated: "People who have their own views on history and the history of our country may argue with me, but it seems to me that the Russian and Ukrainian peoples are practically one people."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160101205944/http://uk.reuters.com/article/ukraine-crisis-putin-people-idUKL5N0QZ2QF20140829 Putin says Russians and Ukrainians 'practically one people'], Reuters (29 August 2014).</ref> After making a similar statement, in late December 2015, he stated: "the Ukrainian culture, as well as Ukrainian literature, surely has a source of its own".<ref>[http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/314057.html Putin: Ukrainian Literature Library must not be lost in any circumstances], Interfax-Ukraine (26 December 2015).</ref> In July 2021, he published a lengthy article ''On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians''<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2021/08/15/the-historical-unity-of-russians-and-ukrainians/ |title = The Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians |last = Putin |first = Vladimir |date = 15 August 2021 |website = moderndiplomacy.eu |access-date = 17 March 2022 |quote = I am confident that true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia. Our spiritual, human and civilizational ties ... have been hardened by common trials, achievements, and victories. Our kinship ... is in the hearts and the memory of people living in modern Russia and Ukraine, in the blood ties that unite millions of our families. Together, we have always been and will be many times stronger and more successful. For we are one people. }}</ref> revisiting these themes, and saying the formation of a Ukrainian state hostile to Moscow was "comparable in its consequences to the use of weapons of mass destruction against us"<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last = Roth |first = Andrew |date = 7 December 2021 |title = Putin's Ukraine rhetoric driven by distorted view of neighbour |url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/07/putins-ukraine-rhetoric-driven-by-distorted-view-of-neighbour |access-date = 12 December 2021 |website =The Guardian }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|author = Georgiy Kasianov |author2 = Mikhail Krom |author3 = Alexei Miller |date = 14 July 2021 |title = 'This isn't an argument about the past' We asked professional historians to weigh in on Putin's 'historical article' |url = https://meduza.io/en/feature/2021/07/15/this-isn-t-an-argument-about-the-past |access-date = 12 December 2021 |website = Meduza }}</ref>—it was made mandatory reading for military-political training in the Russian Armed Forces.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|date = 15 July 2021 |title = |script-title = ru:Шойгу обязал военных изучить статью Путина об Украине |trans-title = Shoigu ordered the military to study Putin's article on Ukraine |url = https://www.rbc.ru/politics/15/07/2021/60f0475d9a7947b61f09f4be |access-date = 12 December 2021 |website = RBK |language = ru }}</ref> [[File:Zelensky, Merkel, Macron, Putin, (2019-12-10) 01.jpg|thumb|Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, German chancellor Angela Merkel, French president Emmanuel Macron, and Putin met in Paris on 9 December 2019 in the "Normandy Format" aimed at ending the war in Donbas.]] In August 2008, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili attempted to restore control over the breakaway South Ossetia. However, the Georgian military was soon defeated in the resulting 2008 South Ossetia War after regular Russian forces entered South Ossetia and then other parts of Georgia, also opening a second front in the other Georgian breakaway province of Abkhazia with Abkhazian forces.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7551576.stm |title = Day-by-day: Georgia-Russia crisis |work =BBC News |date = 21 August 2008 |access-date = 10 May 2009 }}</ref>

Despite existing or past tensions between Russia and most of the post-Soviet states, Putin has followed the policy of Eurasian integration. Putin endorsed the idea of a Eurasian Union in 2011;<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130604193552/http://www.america-russia.net/eng/geopolitics/288470359 New Integration Project for Eurasia – A Future That Is Being Born Today], Izvestiya (3 October 2011).</ref><ref name="yahoo-reuters">{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Russia's Putin says wants to build "Eurasian Union" |first = Gleb |last = Bryanski |url = https://news.yahoo.com/russias-putin-says-wants-build-eurasian-union-222139037.html |publisher = Yahoo! News |agency = Reuters |date = 3 October 2011 |access-date = 4 October 2011 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111006174652/http://news.yahoo.com/russias-putin-says-wants-build-eurasian-union-222139037.html |archive-date = 6 October 2011 }}</ref> the concept was proposed by the president of Kazakhstan in 1994.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Kazakhstan welcomes Putin's Eurasian Union concept |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/kazakhstan/8808500/Kazakhstan-welcomes-Putins-Eurasian-Union-concept.html |archive-url = https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/kazakhstan/8808500/Kazakhstan-welcomes-Putins-Eurasian-Union-concept.html |archive-date = 10 January 2022 |url-access = subscription |url-status = live |newspaper = The Daily Telegraph |date = 6 October 2011 |access-date = 8 October 2011 |location = London |first = James |last = Kilner }}{{cbignore}}</ref> On 18 November 2011, the presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia signed an agreement setting a target of establishing the Eurasian Union by 2015.<ref name="bbc18Nov2011">{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Russia sees union with Belarus and Kazakhstan by 2015 |url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15790452 |work =BBC News |date = 18 November 2011 |access-date = 19 November 2011 }}</ref> The Eurasian Union was established on 1 January 2015.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://docs.eaeunion.org/en-us/Pages/DisplayDocument.aspx?s=bef9c798-3978-42f3-9ef2-d0fb3d53b75f&w=632c7868-4ee2-4b21-bc64-1995328e6ef3&l=540294ae-c3c9-4511-9bf8-aaf5d6e0d169&EntityID=3610 |title = Ru-ru |publisher = Eurasian Economic Union |access-date = 9 April 2016 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160417110445/https://docs.eaeunion.org/en-us/Pages/DisplayDocument.aspx?s=bef9c798-3978-42f3-9ef2-d0fb3d53b75f&w=632c7868-4ee2-4b21-bc64-1995328e6ef3&l=540294ae-c3c9-4511-9bf8-aaf5d6e0d169&EntityID=3610 |archive-date = 17 April 2016 }}</ref>

Under Putin, Russia's relations have improved significantly with Uzbekistan, the second-largest post-Soviet republic after Ukraine. This was demonstrated in Putin's visit to Tashkent in May 2000, after lukewarm relations under Yeltsin and Islam Karimov, who had long distanced itself from Moscow.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Russia: Uzbekistan Renews Old Relations |date = 5 May 2000 |author = Bruce Pannier |publisher = RFE/RL |url = https://www.rferl.org/a/1094026.html }}</ref> In another meeting in 2014, Russia agreed to write off Uzbek debt.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Putin Meets Karimov; Russia To Write Off Uzbek Debt |date = 10 December 2014 |publisher = RFE/RL |url = https://www.rferl.org/a/uzbekistan-russia/26734847.html }}</ref> A theme of a greater Soviet region, including the former USSR and many of its neighbors or imperial-era states—rather than just post-Soviet Russia—has been consistent in Putin's May Day speeches.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/21421 |title = Address at a Parade Dedicated to the 55th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War |website = en.kremlin.ru |date = 9 May 2000 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/23576 |title = Speech at the Military Parade Celebrating the 61st Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War |website = en.kremlin.ru |date = 9 May 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/2022/05/11/you-caused-this-finlands-president-condemns-russia-over-nato-alliance-move/ |title = 'You caused this': Finland's president blames Russia for Nato alliance move |date = 11 May 2022 |website = The National }}</ref>

=== United States, the West, and NATO === {{See also|Anti-American sentiment in Russia|Russia–NATO relations|Russia–United States relations}}

Under Putin, Russia's relationships with NATO and the U.S. have passed through several stages. When he first became president, relations were cautious, but after the 9/11 attacks, Putin quickly supported the U.S. in the war on terror, and the opportunity for partnership appeared.<ref name=Bi-Partisan>[https://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-f-cohen/us-russia-policy_b_1307727.html America's Failed (Bi-Partisan) Russia Policy] by Stephen F. Cohen, ''HuffPost''</ref> According to Stephen F. Cohen, the U.S. "repaid by further expansion of NATO to Russia's borders and by unilateral withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty",<ref name=Bi-Partisan /> but others pointed out the applications from new countries willing to join NATO was driven primarily by Russian behavior in Chechnya, Transnistria, Abkhazia, the 1991 Soviet coup attempt, as well as calls to restore USSR in its previous borders by prominent Russian politicians.<ref>{{cite news|date = 14 January 1995 |title = Europe: Chechnya Summons Uneasy Memories in Former East Bloc : Ex-Soviet satellites look warily on the Russian offensive. Their fears create a new urgency for membership in NATO. |url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-01-14-mn-20008-story.html |access-date = 12 April 2021 |website = Los Angeles Times |language = en-US|last=Murphy|first=Dean}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date=26 May 2020|title=Irony Amid the Menace {{!}} CEPA|url=https://cepa.org/irony-amid-the-menace/|access-date=12 April 2021|language=en-US}}</ref>

From 2003, when Russia strongly opposed the U.S. when it waged the Iraq War, Putin became ever more distant from the West, and relations steadily deteriorated. According to a Russian scholar Stephen F. Cohen, the narrative of the mainstream U.S. media, following that of the White House, became anti-Putin.<ref name=Bi-Partisan /> In an interview with Michael Stürmer, Putin said there were three questions which most concerned Russia and Eastern Europe: namely, the status of Kosovo, the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe and American plans to build missile defence sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, and suggested that all three were linked.<ref name="Sturmer">{{cite book |last=Stuermer |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Stürmer |title=Putin and the Rise of Russia |year=2008 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |location=London |isbn=978-0-297-85510-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E6UsAQAAIAAJ |access-date=11 June 2012 |pages=55, 57 & 192}}</ref> His view was that concessions by the West on one of the questions might be met with concessions from Russia on another.<ref name=Sturmer />

In 2003, relations between Russia and the United Kingdom deteriorated when the United Kingdom granted political asylum to Putin's former patron, oligarch Boris Berezovsky.<ref name="expul">{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Brown Defends Russian Expulsions, Decries Killings |author1 = Gonzalo Vina |author2 = Sebastian Alison |name-list-style = amp |url = https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=ajvS9NfMW2EE&refer=uk |publisher = Bloomberg News |date = 20 July 2007 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930035325/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=ajvS9NfMW2EE&refer=uk |archive-date = 30 September 2007 }}</ref> This deterioration was intensified by allegations that the British were spying and making secret payments to pro-democracy and human rights groups.<ref name="spy-rock">{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16614209 |title = UK spied on Russians with fake rock |work =BBC News |date = 19 January 2012 |access-date = 25 November 2015 }}</ref> The end of 2006 brought more strained relations in the wake of the death by polonium poisoning in London of former KGB and FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, who became an MI6 agent in 2003. In 2007, the crisis in relations continued with the expulsion of four Russian envoys over Russia's refusal to extradite former KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoi to face charges in the murder.<ref name="expul" /> Mirroring the British actions, Russia expelled UK diplomats and took other retaliatory steps.<ref name="expul" /> In 2015, the British Government launched a public inquiry into Litvinenko's death, presided over by Robert Owen, a former British High Court judge.<ref>{{cite news |last=Harding |first=Luke |date=21 January 2016 |title=Litvinenko inquiry: the key players |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/21/litvinenko-inquiry-the-key-players |access-date=5 May 2022 |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London}}</ref> The Owen report, published on 21 January 2016, stated, "The FSB operation to kill Mr. Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr Patrushev and also by President Putin".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Full Report of the Litvinenko Inquiry |date = 21 January 2016 |work = The New York Times |url = https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/21/world/europe/100000004158141.mobile.html }}</ref> The report outlined some possible motives for the murder, including Litvinenko's public statements and books about the alleged involvement of the FSB in mass murder, and what was "undoubtedly a personal dimension to the antagonism" between Putin and Litvinenko.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last1 = Holden |first1 = Michael |title = Russia's Putin probably approved London murder of ex-KGB agent Litvinenko: UK inquiry |url = https://www.reuters.com/article/cnews-us-britain-russia-litvinenko-idCAKCN0UZ0Z6 |access-date = 5 May 2022 |work = Reuters |date = 21 January 2016 |language = en }}</ref>

{{Quote box | width = 28em | quote = One single center of power. One single center of force. One single center of decision-making. This is the world of one master, one sovereign. ... Primarily, the United States has overstepped its national borders, and in every area. | source = — Putin criticizing the United States in his Munich Speech, 2007<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|author = Thom Shanker |author2 = Mark Landler |title = Putin Says U.S. Is Undermining Global Stability |newspaper = The New York Times |date = 11 February 2007 |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/world/europe/11munich.html |url-access = subscription }}</ref> }} In a January 2007 interview, Putin said Russia was in favor of a democratic multipolar world and strengthening the systems of international law.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2007/01/18/0726_type82916_117121.shtml |title = Interview for Indian Television Channel Doordarshan and Press Trust of India News Agency |publisher = Kremlin.ru |date = 18 January 2007 |access-date = 22 June 2013 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080504052123/http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2007/01/18/0726_type82916_117121.shtml |archive-date = 4 May 2008 }}</ref> In February 2007, Putin criticized what he called the United States' monopolistic dominance in global relations, and "almost uncontained hyper use of force in international relations". He said the result of it is that "no one feels safe! Because no one can feel that international law is like a stone wall that will protect them. Of course such a policy stimulates an arms race."<ref name="Munich">{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://archive.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2007/02/10/0138_type82912type82914type82917type84779_118123.shtml |title = Speech and the Following Discussion at the Munich Conference on Security Policy (43rd Munich Conference on Security Policy) |date = 10 February 2007 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120309232547/https://archive.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2007/02/10/0138_type82912type82914type82917type84779_118123.shtml |archive-date = 9 March 2012 }}</ref> This came to be known as the Munich Speech, and NATO secretary Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called the speech "disappointing and not helpful".<ref name="BBC">{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Putin's speech: Back to cold war? |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6350847.stm |publisher = BBC News|first = Rob |last = Watson |date = 10 February 2007 }}</ref>

The months following Putin's Munich Speech<ref name=Munich /> were marked by tension and a surge in rhetoric on both sides of the Atlantic. Both Russian and American officials, however, denied the idea of a new Cold War.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1123 |title = Munich Conference on Security Policy, As Delivered by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, 11 February 2007 |publisher = Defenselink.mil |access-date = 21 December 2013 }}</ref> Putin publicly opposed plans for the U.S. missile shield in Europe and presented President George W. Bush with a counterproposal on 7 June 2007 which was declined.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2007/06/08/2251_type82914type82915_133552.shtml |title = Press Conference following the end of the G8 Summit |publisher = Kremlin.ru |date = 8 June 2007 |access-date = 22 June 2013 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080504052143/http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2007/06/08/2251_type82914type82915_133552.shtml |archive-date = 4 May 2008 }}</ref> Russia suspended its participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty on 11 December 2007.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Russia walks away from CFE arms treaty |url = http://fijilive.com/news/2007/12/russia-walks-away-from-cfe-arms-treaty/348.Fijilive |website = fijilive.com |access-date = 31 July 2015 |date = 12 December 2007 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151222090119/http://fijilive.com/news/2007/12/russia-walks-away-from-cfe-arms-treaty/348.Fijilive |archive-date = 22 December 2015 }}</ref>

Putin opposed Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008, warning that it would destabilize the whole system of international relations.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/14/content_7604675.htm |title = Putin: supports for Kosovo unilateral independence 'immoral, illegal' |agency = Xinhua News Agency |date = 14 February 2008 |access-date = 25 February 2008 }}</ref> He described the recognition of Kosovo's independence by several major world powers as "a terrible precedent, which will de facto blow apart the whole system of international relations, developed not over decades, but over centuries", and that "they have not thought through the results of what they are doing. At the end of the day it is a two-ended stick and the second end will come back and hit them in the face".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/putin-calls-kosovo-independence-terrible-precedent/2008/02/23/1203467431503.html |title = Putin calls Kosovo independence 'terrible precedent' |date = 23 February 2008 |work = The Sydney Morning Herald }}</ref> In March 2014, Putin used Kosovo's declaration of independence as a justification for recognizing the independence of Crimea, citing the so-called "Kosovo independence precedent".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/20603 |title = Address by President of the Russian Federation |website = en.kremlin.ru |date = 18 March 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/03/24/crimea-kosovo-and-false-moral-equivalency/ |title = Why the Kosovo 'precedent' does not justify Russia's annexation of Crimea |newspaper = The Washington Post }}</ref>

After the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. in 2001, Putin had good relations with the American President George W. Bush, and many Western European leaders. His "cooler" and "more business-like" relationship with German chancellor, Angela Merkel is often attributed to Merkel's upbringing in the former DDR, where Putin was stationed as a KGB agent.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Simpson |first = Emma |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4618860.stm |title = Merkel cools Berlin Moscow ties |work =BBC News |date = 16 January 2006 |access-date = 22 June 2013 }}</ref> He had a very friendly and warm relationship with Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi;<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Silvio Berlusconi and Vladimir Putin: the odd couple |url = https://www.ft.com/content/2d2a9afe-6829-11e5-97d0-1456a776a4f5 |archive-url = https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/2d2a9afe-6829-11e5-97d0-1456a776a4f5 |archive-date = 10 December 2022 |url-access = subscription |newspaper = Financial Times |date = 2 October 2015 }}</ref> the two leaders often described their relationship as a close friendship, continuing to organize bilateral meetings even after Berlusconi's resignation in November 2011.<ref>{{cite news|work=The Independent|last=Buchanan|first=Rose|url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/old-friends-putin-and-berlusconi-enjoy-reunion-in-milan-9802327.html |title = Putin pays late-night visit to 'old friend' Berlusconi |date = 17 October 2014 }}</ref> When Berlusconi died in 2023, Putin described him as an "extraordinary man" and a "true friend".<ref>[https://www.rainews.it/articoli/2023/06/il-cordoglio-dellambasciata-russa-per-la-morte-di-berlusconi-putin-condiglianze-f84b6039-8671-484b-b697-d196fc8078f5.html Putin: "Berlusconi una persona cara, un vero amico"]. Rai News</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title=Russia's Putin calls Berlusconi a dear, wise friend and statesman |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russias-putin-pays-tribute-berlusconi-dear-wise-friend-2023-06-12/ |publisher=Reuters |access-date=12 June 2023 |language=en |date=12 June 2023}}</ref>

The NATO-led military intervention in Libya in 2011 prompted a widespread wave of criticism from several world leaders, including Putin, who said that the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 is "defective and flawed", adding: "It allows everything. It resembles medieval calls for crusades".<ref>"[http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/article979191.ece/West-in-mediaeval-crusade-on-Gaddafi--Putin West in "medieval crusade" on Gaddafi: Putin] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110323111540/http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/article979191.ece/West-in-mediaeval-crusade-on-Gaddafi--Putin |date=23 March 2011}}." ''The Times'' (Reuters). 21 March 2011.</ref>

In late 2013, Russian-American relations deteriorated further when the United States canceled a summit for the first time since 1960 after Putin gave asylum to the American Edward Snowden, who had leaked massive amounts of classified information from the NSA.<ref name=Shuster>Shuster, Simon. "[http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2151148,00.html The World According to Putin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227153907/http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,2151148,00.html |date=27 February 2022 }}," ''Time'' 16 September 2013, pp. 30–35.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.ft.com/content/e3ace220-a252-11e4-9630-00144feab7de |archive-url = https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/e3ace220-a252-11e4-9630-00144feab7de.html |archive-date = 10 December 2022 |url-access = subscription |title = Battle for Ukraine: How the west lost Putin |website = Financial Times |date = 2 February 2015 |access-date = 25 November 2015 }}</ref> In 2014, Russia was suspended from the G8 group as a result of its annexation of Crimea.<ref>[https://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/24/politics/obama-europe-trip/ U.S., other powers kick Russia out of G8], CNN</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-temporarily-kicked-out-of-g8-club-of-rich-countries-2014-3 |title = Russia Temporarily Kicked Out of G8 Club of Rich Countries |website = Business Insider |date = 18 June 2013 |access-date = 25 March 2014 }}</ref> Putin gave a speech highly critical of the United States, accusing them of destabilizing world order and trying to "reshape the world" to its own benefit.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last1 = Demirjian |first1 = Karoun |last2 = Birnbaum |first2 = Michael |date = 24 October 2014 |title = Russia's president excoriates the United States for world's problems |language = en-US |newspaper = The Washington Post |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russias-putin-blames-us-for-destabilizing-world-order/2014/10/24/1c2e684f-6c00-41a0-8458-03533d644657_story.html |access-date = 4 March 2022 |issn = 0190-8286 }}</ref> In June 2015, Putin said that Russia has no intention of attacking NATO.<ref>"[http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/insane-person-fear-russian-aggresion-putin-article-1.2249511 Russian President Vladimir Putin says 'only an insane person' would fear Russian attack on NATO]". ''Daily News''. 7 June 2015.</ref>

On 9 November 2016, Putin congratulated Donald Trump on becoming the 45th president of the United States.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-09/putin-congratulates-trump-on-victory-hopeful-ties-will-improve |title = Putin Congratulates Trump on Victory and Hopeful of Better Ties |date = 9 November 2016 |access-date = 18 May 2017 |publisher = Bloomberg L.P. }}</ref> In December 2016, US intelligence officials (headed by James Clapper) quoted by CBS News stated that Putin approved the email hacking and cyber attacks during the U.S. election, against the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton. A spokesman for Putin denied the reports.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-election-hack-vladimir-putin-personally-involved-us-intelligence-officials-say/ |title = Vladimir Putin likely gave go-ahead for U.S. cyberattack, intelligence officials say |date = 15 December 2016 |publisher = CBS News |access-date = 18 May 2017 }}</ref> Putin has repeatedly accused Hillary Clinton, who served as U.S. secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, of interfering in Russia's internal affairs,<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Englund |first = Will |title = The roots of the hostility between Putin and Clinton |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/the-roots-of-the-hostility-between-putin-and-clinton/2016/07/28/85ca74ca-5402-11e6-b652-315ae5d4d4dd_story.html |newspaper = The Washington Post |date = 28 July 2016 }}</ref> and in December 2016, Clinton accused Putin of having a personal grudge against her.<ref>[https://nationalpost.com/news/world/the-top-four-reasons-vladimir-putin-might-have-a-grudge-against-hillary-clinton "The top four reasons Vladimir Putin might have a grudge against Hillary Clinton"]. ''National Post''. 16 December 2016.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url=http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/clinton-putin-226153|title=Why Putin hates Hillary|work=Politico|first1=Michael|last1=Crowley|first2=Julia|last2=Ioffe|date=26 July 2016|access-date=5 August 2023}}</ref> Putin has stated that U.S.–Russian relations, already at the lowest level since the end of the Cold War,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Carroll |first=Oliver |date=19 January 2018 |title=US-Russia relations fail to improve in Trump's first year and they are likely to get worse |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-first-year-inauguration-anniversary-russia-vladimir-putin-relations-moscow-a8168801.html |access-date= |work=The Independent}}</ref> have continued to deteriorate after Trump took office in January 2017.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Vladimir Putin says US-Russia relations are worse since Donald Trump took office |url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-us-russia-relations-worse-military-syria-chemical-attack-barack-obama-a7679796.html |work = The Independent |date = 12 April 2017 }}</ref>[[File:Vladimir Putin and Prince Philip.jpg|thumb|Putin and his wife Lyudmila meeting with Queen Elizabeth II, her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2005]]

On 4 March 2018, former double agent Sergei Skripal was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/07/russian-spy-police-appeal-for-witnesses-as-cobra-meeting-takes-place |title = Sergei Skripal: former Russian spy poisoned with nerve agent, say police |last1 = Dodd |first1 = Vikram |last2 = Harding |first2 = Luke |date = 8 March 2018 |website =The Guardian |access-date = 17 March 2018 |last3 = MacAskill |first3 = Ewen }}</ref> Ten days later, the British government formally accused the Russian state of attempted murder, a charge which Russia denied.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/14/uk-spy-poisoning-russia-tells-un-it-did-not-make-nerve-agent-used-in-attack |title = Spy poisoning: allies back UK and blast Russia at UN security council |last = Borger |first = Julian |date = 15 March 2018 |website =The Guardian |access-date = 17 March 2018 }}</ref> After the UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats (an action which would later be responded to with a Russian expulsion of 23 British diplomats),<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/17/sergei-skripal-russia-expels-23-british-diplomats |title = Sergei Skripal: Russia expels 23 UK diplomats as row deepens |last1 = Grierson |first1 = Jamie |last2 = Wintour |first2 = Patrick |date = 17 March 2018 |website =The Guardian |access-date = 17 March 2018 }}</ref> British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on 16 March that it was "overwhelmingly likely" Putin had personally ordered the poisoning of Skripal. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the allegation "shocking and unpardonable diplomatic misconduct".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/west-unites-to-confront-russia-over-poisonings-n88qmsttf|title=Johnson points finger at Putin for Salisbury spy attack|first1=Fiona|last1=Hamilton|first2=Tom|last2=Parfitt|first3=Sam|last3=Coates|first4=Rhys|last4=Blakely|first5=Lucy|last5=Fisher|website=The Times|date=16 March 2018 |access-date=17 March 2018}}</ref>

On 18 June 2020, ''The National Interest'' published a nine-thousand-word essay by Putin, titled "The Real Lessons of the 75th Anniversary of World War II".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Putin |first = Vladimir |title = The Real Lessons of the 75th Anniversary of World War II |url = https://nationalinterest.org/feature/vladimir-putin-real-lessons-75th-anniversary-world-war-ii-162982 |work = The National Interest |date = 18 June 2020 }}</ref> In the essay, Putin criticizes the Western historical view of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact as the start of World War II, stating that the Munich Agreement was the beginning.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Middelaar |first = Luuk van |title = Poetin is politicus, en dus historicus |url = https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2020/06/26/poetin-is-politicus-en-dus-historicus-a4004120 |work = NRC Handelsblad |date = 26 June 2020 }}</ref>

On 21 February 2023, Putin suspended Russia's participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title=Putin pulls back from last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the US |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/21/europe/putin-russia-new-start-nuclear-pact-intl/index.html |work=CNN |date=21 February 2023}}</ref> On 25 March, President Putin announced the stationing of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Russia would maintain control of the weapons. President Putin told Russian TV: "There is nothing unusual here either. Firstly, the United States has been doing this for decades. They have long deployed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allied countries."<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65077687 Putin: Russia to station nuclear weapons in Belarus] BBC (25 March 2023)</ref>

In August 2024, Putin pardoned American journalist Evan Gershkovich, opposition figures Vladimir Kara-Murza, Ilya Yashin, and others in a prisoner swap with Western countries.<ref name="f24">{{cite news |date=2 August 2024 |title=Putin's ominous message: 'We can kill people in broad daylight in EU, we'll take care of our people' |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwJPJR3LfwI}}</ref><ref name="tg1">{{cite news |last1=Walker |first1=Shaun |last2=Cole |first2=Deborah |date=2 August 2024 |title=Kremlin admits Vadim Krasikov is a Russian state assassin |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/02/kremlin-admits-vadim-krasikov-is-an-russian-state-assassin |newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref><ref name="rfe1">{{cite news |last1=Coalson |first1=Robert |date=3 August 2024 |title=Beyond the Elation, Putin's Prisoner Swap Has Ominous Implications |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-prisoner-swap-terrorism-espionage-putin/33061336.html |newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty}}</ref> The 2024 Ankara prisoner exchange was the most extensive between Russia and United States since the end of the Cold War, involving the release of 26 people.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 August 2024 |title=Things to know about the largest US-Russia prisoner swap in post-Soviet history |url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-gershkovich-whelan-prisoner-swap-354df585ad321ecdbea4c0f2c557f0aa |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240802233705/https://apnews.com/article/russia-gershkovich-whelan-prisoner-swap-354df585ad321ecdbea4c0f2c557f0aa |archive-date=2 August 2024 |access-date=5 August 2024 |website=AP News |quote=The U.S. and Russia on Thursday completed their largest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history...}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200" heights="200"> File:Vladimir Putin 28 May 2002-13.jpg|Putin with Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and U.S. president George W. Bush at the NATO-Russia Council meeting in Rome on 28 May 2002<ref>{{cite news|title = Russia and NATO greet arrival of a warm front |url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/29/russia.ianblack |work =The Guardian |date = 29 May 2002|last=Black|first=Ian}}</ref> File:Vladimir Putin & Donald Trump in Helsinki, 16 July 2018 (2).jpg|Putin with U.S. president Donald Trump at the summit meeting in Helsinki, Finland, 16 July 2018 File:Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin (2018-05-18) 01.jpg|Putin held a meeting in Sochi with German chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline in May 2018. </gallery>

=== Latin America === {{See also|Brazil–Russia relations|Russia–Venezuela relations|Cuba–Russia relations|Argentina–Russia relations}} [[File:Vladimir Putin and Nicolás Maduro (2019-10-25) 01.jpg|thumb|Putin and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on 10 October 2019]]

Putin and his successor, Medvedev, enjoyed warm relations with Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. Much of this has been through the sale of military equipment; since 2005, Venezuela has purchased more than $4 billion worth of arms from Russia.<ref>[http://www.france24.com/en/20080925-russia-nuclear-putin-chavez-nuclear-energy Russia Forges Nuclear Links With Venezuela] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110051027/http://www.france24.com/en/20080925-russia-nuclear-putin-chavez-nuclear-energy |date=10 November 2013}} France 24</ref> In September 2008, Russia sent Tupolev Tu-160 bombers to Venezuela to carry out training flights.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7609577.stm |title = World – Americas – Russian bombers land in Venezuela |date = 11 September 2008 |publisher = BBC |access-date = 25 November 2015 }}</ref> In November 2008, both countries held a joint naval exercise in the Caribbean. Earlier in 2000, Putin had re-established stronger ties with Fidel Castro's Cuba.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Putin, in Cuba, Signals Priority of Ties to U.S. |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/16/world/putin-in-cuba-signals-priority-of-ties-to-us.html |work = The New York Times |first = Patrick |last = Tyler |date = 16 December 2000 |access-date = 23 August 2016 }}</ref>

"You express the best masculine qualities", Putin told Jair Bolsonaro in 2020. "You look for solutions in all matters, always putting above all the interests of your people, your country, leaving out your own personal issues". Political scientist Oliver Stuenkel noted, "Among Brazil's right-wing populists, Putin is seen as someone who is anti-woke, and that is seen as something that is definitely appealing to Bolsonaro. He is a strongman, and that is very inspiring to Bolsonaro. He would like to be someone who concentrates as much power".<ref name="McCoy Harlan">{{#invoke:cite|news|last1 = McCoy |first1 = Terrence |last2 = Harlan |first2 = Chico |title = The global right has lionized Putin. The Ukraine attack leaves many leaders on an awkward footing. |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/24/russia-ukraine-putin-bolsonaro-salvini/ |newspaper = The Washington Post |date = 24 February 2022 |access-date = 18 March 2022 }}</ref>

=== Middle East and Africa === {{See also|Israel–Russia relations|Iran–Russia relations|Russia–South Africa relations}}

On 16 October 2007, Putin visited Iran to participate in the Second Caspian Summit in Tehran,<ref name="rbc-iran-tehran">[http://top.rbc.ru/politics/16/10/2007/122607.shtml Putin: Iran Has Right to Develop Peaceful Nuclear Programme] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080406094726/http://top.rbc.ru/politics/16/10/2007/122607.shtml |date=6 April 2008}}, 16 October 2007, Rbc.ru</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Putin's warning to the U.S. |work = Reuters |date = 16 October 2007 |url = https://www.reuters.com/news/video/videoStory?videoId=68897 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071017065727/http://www.reuters.com/news/video/videoStory?videoId=68897 |url-status = dead |archive-date = 17 October 2007 }}</ref> where he met with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://president.kremlin.ru/text/news/2007/10/148432.shtml |script-title = ru:Владимир Путин положительно оценил итоги Второго Каспийского саммита на встрече с Президентом Ирана Махмудом Ахмадинежадом |trans-title = Vladimir Putin assessed the results of the Second Caspian Summit positively on meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad |language = ru |publisher = Kremlin.ru |date = 16 October 2007 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080504052206/http://president.kremlin.ru/text/news/2007/10/148432.shtml |archive-date = 4 May 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://president.kremlin.ru/events/chron/2007/10/148247.shtml |script-title = ru:Визит в Исламскую Республику Иран. Второй Каспийский саммит |trans-title = Visit to Iran. Second Caspian Summit |language = ru |publisher = Kremlin.ru |date = 16 October 2007 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080504052159/http://president.kremlin.ru/events/chron/2007/10/148247.shtml |archive-date = 4 May 2008 }}</ref> This was the first visit of a Soviet or Russian leader<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Putin confirms Iran visit, brushes off 'plot' reports |url = http://www.lebanonwire.com/0710MLN/07101516AF.asp |agency = Lebanon Wire |date = 15 October 2007 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151016052242/http://www.lebanonwire.com/0710MLN/07101516AF.asp |archive-date = 16 October 2015 }}</ref> to Iran since Joseph Stalin's participation in the Tehran Conference in 1943, and marked a significant event in Iran–Russia relations.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080726124113/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2666142.ece Vladimir Putin defies assassination threats to make historic visit to Tehran], 16 October 2007, ''The Times''.</ref> At a press conference after the summit Putin said that "all our (Caspian) states have the right to develop their peaceful nuclear programmes without any restrictions".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://president.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2007/10/16/2020_type82914type82915_148460.shtml |title = Answer to a Question at the Joint Press Conference Following the Second Caspian Summit |publisher = Kremlin.ru |date = 16 October 2007 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080504052153/http://president.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2007/10/16/2020_type82914type82915_148460.shtml |archive-date = 4 May 2008 }}</ref> Putin was quoted as describing Iran as a "partner",<ref name=Sturmer /> although he expressed concerns over the Iranian nuclear programme.<ref name=Sturmer />

In April 2008, Putin became the first Russian president to visit Libya.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://gulfnews.com/news/region/libya/putin-s-visit-historic-and-strategic-1.98399 |title = Putin's visit 'historic and strategic' |website = Gulf News |date = 18 April 2008 |access-date = 22 June 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130514014600/http://gulfnews.com/news/region/libya/putin-s-visit-historic-and-strategic-1.98399 |archive-date = 14 May 2013 |url-status = dead }}</ref> Putin condemned the 2011 foreign military intervention in Libya, referring to the UN resolution as "defective and flawed", and added, "It allows everything. It resembles medieval calls for crusades".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/21/putin-libya-intervention-_n_838293.html |work = HuffPost |first = Cara |last = Parks |title = Putin: Military Intervention In Libya Resembles 'Crusades' |date = 21 March 2011 }}</ref> Upon the death of Muammar Gaddafi, Putin called it as "planned murder" by the US, saying: "They showed to the whole world how he (Gaddafi) was killed", and "There was blood all over. Is that what they call a democracy?"<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|first = James |last = Crugnale |url = http://www.mediaite.com/online/vladimir-putin-blames-us-drones-for-gaddafi-death-slams-john-mccain/ |title = Vladimir Putin Blames US Drones For Gaddafi Death, Slams John McCain |publisher = Mediaite.com |date = 15 December 2011 |access-date = 22 June 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120104145441/http://www.mediaite.com/online/vladimir-putin-blames-us-drones-for-gaddafi-death-slams-john-mccain/ |archive-date = 4 January 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last = Citizen |first = Ottawa |url = http://canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/world/story.html?id=883c4e8f-cd01-4705-b446-fe9c72d3a291 |title = Putin claims U.S. planned murder of Gadhafi |publisher = Canada.com |date = 16 December 2011 |access-date = 22 June 2013 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131020152422/http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/world/story.html?id=883c4e8f-cd01-4705-b446-fe9c72d3a291 |archive-date = 20 October 2013 }}</ref>

From 2000 to 2010, Russia sold around $1.5 billion worth of arms to Syria, making Damascus Russia's seventh-largest client.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/opinion/why-russia-supports-assad.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss |work = The New York Times |first = Dmitri |last = Trenin |title = Why Russia Supports Assad |date = 9 February 2012 }}</ref> During the Syrian civil war, Russia threatened to veto any sanctions against the Syrian government,<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|author = Fred Weir |url = https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2012/0119/Why-Russia-is-willing-to-sell-arms-to-Syria |title = Why Russia is willing to sell arms to Syria |website = The Christian Science Monitor |date = 19 January 2012 |access-date = 22 June 2013 }}</ref> and continued to supply arms to its regime. Putin opposed any foreign intervention in the Syrian civil war. In June 2012, in Paris, he rejected the statement of French president François Hollande who called on Bashar al-Assad to step down. Putin echoed Assad's argument that anti-regime ''militants'' were responsible for much of the bloodshed. He also talked about previous NATO interventions and their results, and asked, "What is happening in Libya, in Iraq? Did they become safer? Where are they heading? Nobody has an answer".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last = Viscusi |first = Gregory |url = http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-06-01/hollande-clashes-with-putin-over-ouster-of-syria-s-assad |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120718174702/http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-06-01/hollande-clashes-with-putin-over-ouster-of-syria-s-assad |url-status = dead |archive-date = 18 July 2012 |title = Hollande Clashes With Putin Over Ouster of Syria's Assad |website = Bloomberg BusinessWeek |date = 1 June 2012 |access-date = 22 June 2013 }}</ref>

On 11 September 2013, ''The New York Times'' published an op-ed by Putin urging caution against US intervention in Syria and criticizing American exceptionalism.<ref name="NYT-20130911">{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Putin |first = Vladimir V. |title = A Plea for Caution From Russia |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html |date = 11 September 2013 |work = The New York Times |access-date = 11 September 2013 }}</ref> Putin subsequently helped to arrange for the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Putin-says-US-Russia-agree-on-how-to-destroy-Syrias-chemical-weapons-328134 |title = Putin says US, Russia agree on how to destroy Syria's chemical weapons |newspaper = The Jerusalem Post |date = 8 October 2013 }}</ref> In 2015, he took a stronger pro-Assad stance<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.forbes.com/sites/melikkaylan/2015/09/30/putins-syria-gambit-could-be-his-waterloo/ |title = Putin's Syria Gambit Could Be His Waterloo |author = Melik Kaylan |website = Forbes }}</ref> and mobilized military support for the regime. Some analysts have summarized Putin as being allied with Shias and Alawites in the Middle East.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.forbes.com/sites/melikkaylan/2014/11/12/is-putin-about-to-invade-ukraine/ |work = Forbes |first = Melik |last = Kaylan |title = Is Putin About To Invade Ukraine? }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pedler |first1=John |title=A Word Before Leaving: A Former Diplomat's Weltanschauung |date=2015 |page=129}}</ref> Putin ordered Russian intervention to support his ally, Assad, to undermine the U.S.-led international order. As a result, Russia increased its influence in the Eastern Mediterranean by strengthening its control over the Tartus Naval Base and becoming an operator of the Khmeimim Air Base.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Borshchevskaya |first=Anna |title=Putin's War in Syria |publisher=I. B. Tauris |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-7556-3463-7 |pages=70, 71, 80, 81, 157, 169, 171, 174|quote=Even pro-Kremlin Russian analysts over the years, in private, acknowledged that at least one chief Russian goal in Syria has been anti-American. Anti-Americanism was also behind the Kremlin’s chief motivation for supporting Assad}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date=30 September 2015|title=Russia carries out first air strikes in Syria|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/09/russian-carries-air-strikes-syria-150930133155190.html|access-date=1 October 2015|publisher=Al Jazeera|archive-date=30 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930155218/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/09/russian-carries-air-strikes-syria-150930133155190.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Geukjian |first=Ohannes |title=The Russian Military Intervention in Syria |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-228-00829-3 |location= |pages=196 |chapter=5: Russian Diplomacy, War, and Peace Making, 2017–19|quote=Russia’s overreach aimed at undermining and hollowing out the US-led international order}}</ref>

In 2017, Putin dispatched Russian PMCs to back the Touadéra regime in the Central African Republic Civil War, gaining a permanent military presence in return.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Cohen |first = Roger |date = 24 December 2022 |title = Putin Wants Fealty, and He's Found It in Africa |work = The New York Times |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/24/world/africa/central-african-republic-russia-wagner.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230103183631/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/24/world/africa/central-african-republic-russia-wagner.html |archive-date = 3 January 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last = Bax |first = Pauline |date = 3 December 2021 |title = Russia's Influence in the Central African Republic |url = https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/central-african-republic/russias-influence-central-african-republic |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220302075435/https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/central-african-republic/russias-influence-central-african-republic |archive-date = 2 March 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Posthumus |first = Bram |date = 20 May 2022 |title = Analysis: The curious case of Russia in Central African Republic |publisher = Al Jazeera |url = https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/5/20/the-curious-case-of-russias-romance-in-central-african-republic |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220601181619/https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/5/20/the-curious-case-of-russias-romance-in-central-african-republic |archive-date = 1 June 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|first1 = Sauer |last1=Burke |first2 = Pjotr | last2=Jason |date = 16 December 2022 |title = Ally of Wagner Group boss hurt in 'assassination attempt' in central Africa |work =The Guardian |url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/16/dmitry-sytii-ally-of-wagner-boss-injured-in-car-after-assassination-attempt |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221217001123/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/16/dmitry-sytii-ally-of-wagner-boss-injured-in-car-after-assassination-attempt |archive-date = 17 December 2022 }}</ref> The first Russia-Africa Summit was held in October 2019 in Sochi, Russia, co-hosted by Putin and Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last1=Gershkovich |first1=Evan |title=At Russia's Inaugural Africa Summit, Moscow Sells Sovereignty |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/10/26/russias-inaugural-africa-summit-moscow-sells-sovereignty-a67916 |work=The Moscow Times |date=26 October 2019}}</ref> The meeting was attended by 43 heads of state and government from African countries.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title=Putin: relations with Africa are a 'priority' for Moscow |url=https://www.africanews.com/2023/03/20/putin-relations-with-africa-are-a-priority-for-moscow/ |work=Africa News |date=20 March 2023}}</ref>

In October 2019, Putin visited the United Arab Emirates, where six agreements were struck with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed. One of them included shared investments between Russian sovereign wealth fund and the Emirati investment fund Mubadala. The two nations signed deals worth over $1.3bn in the energy, health, and advanced technology sectors.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://youngherald.com/2019/10/vladimir-putin-signs-deals-worth-1-3bn-during-uae-visit/ |title = Vladimir Putin signs deals worth $1.3bn during UAE visit |access-date = 17 October 2019 |website = Young Herald |archive-date = 26 February 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210226021123/http://youngherald.com/2019/10/vladimir-putin-signs-deals-worth-1-3bn-during-uae-visit/ |url-status = dead }}</ref> On 22 October 2021, Putin highlighted the "unique bond" between Russia and Israel during a meeting with Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Putin highlights unique bond formed between Russia, Israel |url = https://tass.com/politics/1352943 |access-date = 4 March 2022 |agency = TASS }}</ref>

<gallery widths="200" heights="130"> File:Trilateral Iran-Russia-Turkey Summit September 2018 in Tehran 4.jpg|Putin with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, September 2018 File:Putin-Sall meeting (2022-06-03) 03.jpg|Putin met with the president of the African Union, Macky Sall, to discuss grain deliveries, June 2022. The war in Ukraine contributed to the 2022–2023 food crises.<ref>{{cite news|title=How Russia's War on Ukraine Is Worsening Global Starvation |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/02/us/politics/russia-ukraine-food-crisis.html |work=The New York Times |date=2 January 2023|last1=Wong|first1=Edward|last2=Swanson|first2=Ana}}</ref> File:Vladimir Putin and Ahmed al-Sharaa (2026-01-28).jpg|Putin with Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa, 28 January 2026 </gallery>

== Public image == {{Main|Public image of Vladimir Putin}}

=== Polls and rankings === In a June 2007 public opinion survey, Putin's approval rating was 81%, the second-highest of any leader in the world that year.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Madslien |first = Jorn |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6265068.stm |title = Russia's economic might: spooky or soothing? |work =BBC News |date = 4 July 2007 |access-date = 2 March 2010 }}</ref> In January 2013, at the time of the 2011–2013 Russian protests, Putin's rating fell to 62%, the lowest since 2000.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Arkhipov |first = Ilya |url = https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-24/putin-approval-rating-falls-to-lowest-since-2000-poll.html |title = Putin Approval Rating Falls to Lowest Since 2000: Poll |publisher = Bloomberg L.P. |date = 24 January 2013 |access-date = 22 June 2013 }}</ref> In a context of increased diplomatic isolation and international sanctions on Russian officials prompted by the Russo-Ukrainian war, Putin's approval rating reached 87% in August 2014.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|date = 6 August 2014 |title = Putin's Approval Rating Soars to 87%, Poll Says |work = Moscow Times |url = https://www.themoscowtimes.com/archive/putins-approval-rating-soars-to-87-poll-says |access-date = 6 July 2021 }}</ref> In June 2015, Putin's approval rating climbed to 89%, an all-time high.<ref name="guardian">{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Vladimir Putin's approval rating at record levels |url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/datablog/2015/jul/23/vladimir-putins-approval-rating-at-record-levels |work =The Guardian |date = 23 July 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|script-title = ru:Июльские рейтинги одобрения и доверия |url = http://www.levada.ru/old/23-07-2015/iyulskie-reitingi-odobreniya-i-doveriya |agency = Levada Centre |date = 23 July 2015 |language = ru |access-date = 29 March 2016 |archive-date = 29 January 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170129233623/http://www.levada.ru/old/23-07-2015/iyulskie-reitingi-odobreniya-i-doveriya |url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Putin's approval ratings hit 89 percent, the highest they've ever been |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/06/24/putins-approval-ratings-hit-89-percent-the-highest-theyve-ever-been/ |newspaper = The Washington Post |date = 24 June 2015 }}</ref> Observers saw Putin's high approval ratings in 2010s as a consequence of improvements in living standards, and Russia's reassertion on the world scene during his presidency.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://www.oprosy.info/news.php?extend.25 |title = Quarter of Russians Think Living Standards Improved During Putin's Rule |language = ru |publisher = Oprosy.info |access-date = 22 June 2013 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130731141629/http://www.oprosy.info/news.php?extend.25 |archive-date = 31 July 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stone |first=Norman |date=25 May 2010 |title=No wonder they like Putin |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article2994651.ece |access-date=15 May 2025 |website=The Times |archive-date=25 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525073652/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article2994651.ece |url-status=dead }}</ref> The director of the Levada Center stated in 2015 that drawing conclusions from Russian poll results or comparing them to polls in democratic states was irrelevant, as there is no real political competition in Russia, where, unlike in democratic states, Russian voters are not offered any credible alternatives and public opinion is primarily formed by state-controlled media, which promotes those in power and discredits alternative candidates.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Opinion: The truth about Putin's 86-percent approval rating. How people fail to understand survey data about support for the Kremlin |url = https://meduza.io/en/feature/2015/12/10/opinion-the-truth-about-putin-s-86-percent-approval-rating |website = Meduza |access-date = 10 December 2015 |language = en-US |quote = It's wrong to compare directly the ratings of Russian and foreign politicians. In democratic countries, politics is based on competition and the constant contestation between different candidates and platforms. The Russian political system, on the other hand, is based on the absence of a credible alternative. Accordingly, public approval doesn't indicate the country's assessment of concrete political decisions, but a general acceptance of the course chosen by those in power. }}</ref>

Putin's performance in reining in corruption is unpopular among Russians. ''Newsweek'' reported in 2017 that a poll "indicated that 67% held Putin personally responsible for high-level corruption".<ref name="Newsweek">{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://www.newsweek.com/2017/04/28/alexei-navalny-russia-vladimir-putin-donald-trump-corruption-protests-moscow-585004.html |title = Alexei Navalny: Is Russia's Anti-Corruption Crusader Vladimir Putin's Kryptonite?|last=Bennetts|first=Marc|website = Newsweek |date = 17 April 2017 |access-date = 7 June 2017 }}</ref> Corruption is a significant problem in Russia.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = New Reports Highlight Russia's Deep-Seated Culture of Corruption |url = https://www.voanews.com/europe/new-reports-highlight-russias-deep-seated-culture-corruption |publisher = Voice of America |date = 26 January 2020 |access-date = 16 March 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.transparency.org/en/news/countering-russian-kleptocrats-wests-response-to-assault-on-ukraine |title = Countering Russian kleptocrats: What the West's Response to Assault on Ukraine Should Look Like |website = Transparency International |date = 4 March 2022 |quote = Corruption is endemic in Russia. With a score of just 29 out of 100, Russia is the lowest-ranking country in Europe on Transparency International's 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index. }}</ref> In October 2018, two-thirds of Russians surveyed agreed that "Putin bears full responsibility for the problems of the country", which has been attributed<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title="Левада-Центр": две трети россиян считают, что в проблемах страны виноват Путин |url = https://www.znak.com/2018-11-22/levada_centr_dve_treti_rossiyan_schitayut_chto_v_problemah_strany_vinovat_putin |access-date = 22 November 2018 |website = Znak.com |archive-date = 18 January 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220118045149/https://www.znak.com/2018-11-22/levada_centr_dve_treti_rossiyan_schitayut_chto_v_problemah_strany_vinovat_putin |url-status = dead }}</ref> to a decline in a popular belief in "good tsar and bad boyars", a traditional attitude towards justifying failures at the top of the ruling hierarchy in Russia.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/54fdafd74.html|title=Refworld {{!}} 'Good Tsar, Bad Boyars': Popular Attitudes and Azerbaijan's Future|work=Refworld|publisher=United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees|access-date=22 November 2018}}</ref> In January 2019, the percentage of Russians trusting Putin hit a then-historic low—33%.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|date = 18 January 2019 |title = Рейтинг доверия Путину достиг исторического минимума. Он упал вдвое с 2015 года |url = https://tvrain.ru/news/rejting_doverija_putinu_dostig_istoricheskogo_minimuma_on_upal_vdvoe_s_2015_goda-478970/ |access-date = 19 January 2019 |work = TV Rain }}</ref> In May 2020, amid the COVID crisis, Putin's approval rating was 68%, when respondents were presented a list of names (closed question),<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Доверие политикам (1) |url = https://wciom.ru/news/ratings/doverie_politikam_1/ |website = wciom.ru |access-date = 25 May 2020 }}</ref> and 27% when respondents were expected to name politicians they trust (open question).<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Доверие политикам (2) |url = https://wciom.ru/news/ratings/doverie_politikam/ |website = wciom.ru |access-date = 25 May 2020 }}</ref> This has been attributed to continued post-Crimea economic stagnation but also an apathetic response to the pandemic crisis in Russia.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last = Kolesnikov |first = Andrei |date = 15 June 2020 |title = Why Putin's Rating Is at a Record Low |url = https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/06/15/why-putins-rating-is-at-a-record-low-a70572 |access-date = 16 June 2020 |website = Moscow Times }}</ref>

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, state-controlled TV, where most Russians get their news, presented the invasion as a "special military operation" and liberation mission, in line with the government's narrative.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = 'Pure Orwell': how Russian state media spins invasion as liberation|last=Sauer|first=Pjotr|url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/25/pure-orwell-how-russian-state-media-spins-ukraine-invasion-as-liberation |work = The Guardian |date = 25 February 2022 }}</ref><ref name="masha-gessen-invasion">{{cite magazine |last=Gessen |title=The War That Russians Do Not See |first=Masha |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/03/14/the-war-that-russians-do-not-see |magazine=The New Yorker |date=4 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Ukrainians Find That Relatives in Russia Don't Believe It's a War |first = Valerie |last = Hopkins |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/06/world/europe/ukraine-russia-families.html |work = The New York Times |date = 6 March 2022 }}</ref> The Russian censorship apparatus ''Roskomnadzor'' ordered the country's media to employ information only from state sources or face fines and blocks.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date = 24 February 2022 |url = https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/02/24/use-only-official-sources-about-ukraine-war-russian-media-watchdog-tells-journalists-a76567 |title = Use Only Official Sources About Ukraine War, Russian Media Watchdog Tells Journalists |website = Moscow Times |access-date = 24 February 2022 |archive-date = 24 February 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220224123216/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/02/24/use-only-official-sources-about-ukraine-war-russian-media-watchdog-tells-journalists-a76567 |url-status = live }}</ref> The Russian media was banned from using the words "war", "invasion" or "aggression" to describe the invasion,<ref name="masha-gessen-invasion" /> with media outlets being blocked as a result.<ref name="nyt-approval-march-2022">{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/31/world/europe/putin-approval-rating-russia.html |title = Faced with foreign pressure, Russians rally around Putin, poll shows. |website = The New York Times |date = 31 March 2022 }}</ref> In March 2022, 97% of Ukrainians said they had an unfavorable view of Putin, and 98% of Ukrainians—including 82% of ethnic Russians living in Ukraine—said they did not believe any part of Ukraine was rightfully part of Russia.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Ukrainians want to stay and fight, but don't see Russian people as the enemy. A remarkable poll from Kyiv |url = https://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/commentary/ukrainians-want-to-stay-and-fight-but-dont-see-russian-people-as-the-enemy-a-remarkable-poll-from-kyiv/ |work = European Leadership Network |date = 14 March 2022 }}</ref>

In late February 2022, a survey conducted by the independent research group Russian Field found that 59% of respondents supported the "special military operation" in Ukraine.<ref name="opendemocracy">{{#invoke:cite|news|title = In Russia, opinion polls are a political weapon |url = https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/russia-opinion-polls-war-ukraine/ |work = openDemocracy |date = 9 March 2022 }}</ref> In late February and mid-March 2022 two polls surveyed Russians' sentiments about the "special military operation" in Ukraine. The results were obtained by Radio Liberty.<ref name="lib">{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.svoboda.org/a/nezavisimye-sotsiologi-71-rossiyan-ispytyvaet-gordostj-iz-za-voyny-s-ukrainoy/31757535.html |title = Независимые социологи: 71% россиян испытывает гордость из-за войны с Украиной |work = Радио Свобода |date = 17 March 2022 |publisher = Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty }}</ref> 71% of Russians polled said that they supported the "special military operation" in Ukraine.<ref name="Belsat TV-2022">{{#invoke:cite|web|date = 18 March 2022 |title = Independent sociologists: The vast majority of Russians feel proud of the war with Ukraine |url = https://belsat.eu/en/news/18-03-2022-majority-of-russians-proud-of-war-with-ukraine-experts-say/ |publisher = Belsat TV |language = en }}</ref><ref name="lib" /> A poll published on 30 March in Russia saw Putin's approval rating jump, from 71% in February, to 83%.<ref>{{cite news|title = Russians in the dark about true state of war amid country's Orwellian media coverage |url = https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/03/media/russia-media-ukraine-cmd-intl/index.html |publisher =CNN |date = 3 April 2022|last=Dougherty|first=Jill}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.levada.ru/2022/03/30/odobrenie-institutov-rejtingi-partij-i-politikov/ |title = Одобрение Институтов, Рейтинги Партий И Политиков |website = levada.ru |date = 30 March 2022 }}</ref> However, experts warned that the figures may not accurately reflect the public mood, as the public tends to rally around leaders during war and some may be hiding their true opinions,<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/31/putins-approval-surges-after-launch-of-military-operation-in-ukraine-a77162 |title = Putin's Approval Surges After Launch of 'Military Operation' in Ukraine |website = Moscow Times |date = 31 March 2022 }}</ref> especially with the Russian 2022 war censorship laws prohibiting dissemination of "fake information" about the military.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.bbc.com/russian/news-60662712 |title = Поддерживают ли россияне войну в Украине? Смотря как спросить |website = BBC News Russian |date = 8 March 2022 }}</ref> Many respondents do not want to answer pollsters' questions for fear of negative consequences.<ref name="opendemocracy" /> When researchers commissioned a survey on Russians' attitudes to the war, 29,400 out of 31,000 refused to answer.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Yaffa |first1=Joshua |title=Why Do So Many Russians Say They Support the War in Ukraine? |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-do-so-many-russians-say-they-support-the-war-in-ukraine |magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref> The Levada Center's director stated that early feelings of "shock and confusion" were being replaced with the belief that Russia was being besieged and that Russians must rally around their leader.<ref name="nyt-approval-march-2022" /> The Kremlin's analysis concluded that public support for the war was broad but not deep, and that most Russians would accept anything Putin labeled a victory. In September 2023, the head of the VTsIOM state pollster Valery Fyodorov said in an interview that only 10–15% of Russians actively supported the war, and that "most Russians are not demanding the conquest of Kyiv or Odesa".<ref name="NYTimes-2023-12-23">{{cite news |title=Putin Quietly Signals He Is Open to a Cease-Fire in Ukraine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/23/world/europe/putin-russia-ukraine-war-cease-fire.html |work=The New York Times |date=23 December 2023}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200" heights="160"> File:Wall of Grief - opening ceremony (3).jpg|Putin opens the Wall of Grief, a monument to victims of Stalinist repression, on October 2017. File:Vladimir Putin approval (Levada, 2020).png|alt=Vladimir Putin approval 1999–2020 (Levada, 2020)|Vladimir Putin's public approval 1999–2020 (Levada, 2020)<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Одобрение органов власти |url = https://www.levada.ru/indikatory/odobrenie-organov-vlasti/ |language = ru-RU |access-date = 25 May 2020 }}</ref> File:Anti-Corruption Rally in Saint Petersburg (2017-03-26) 12.jpg|The Levada Center survey showed that 58% of surveyed Russians supported the 2017 Russian protests against high-level corruption.<ref>"[http://www.levada.ru/2017/06/13/aktsii-protesta-12-iyunya/ Акции протеста 12 июня]" (in Russian). Levada Centre. 13 June 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2020.</ref> </gallery>

=== Cult of personality === {{Main|Public image of Vladimir Putin}}

{{See also|List of cults of personality}} [[File:Putin with F1 bolid 11.jpg|thumb|upright|Putin driving a Formula One car, 2010 (video)]]

Putin has cultivated a cult of personality for himself<ref>{{Cite book |last=Plokhy |first=Serhii |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H2F_EAAAQBAJ |title=The Russo-Ukrainian War |date=16 May 2023 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-1-80206-179-6 |access-date=2 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030112950/https://books.google.com/books?id=H2F_EAAAQBAJ |archive-date=30 October 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Zavadskaya |first=Margarita |date=2023 |title=Russia: Nations in Transit 2023 Country Report |url=https://freedomhouse.org/country/russia/nations-transit/2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313123107/https://freedomhouse.org/country/russia/nations-transit/2023 |archive-date=13 March 2024 |access-date=25 March 2024 |website=Freedom House |language=en |quote=In Russia, national governance represents outright authoritarianism, dominated by widespread oppression and large-scale corruption among the top elites. The 2022 invasion of Ukraine has set the Russian regime on a further downward spiral, making it one of the most notorious personalist dictatorships in the world.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kovalev |first=Alexey |date=26 March 2024 |title=Russia Is Returning to Its Totalitarian Past |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/08/01/russia-putin-wagner-repression-authoritarian-totalitarian-arrests-ukraine-war/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310074336/https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/08/01/russia-putin-wagner-repression-authoritarian-totalitarian-arrests-ukraine-war/ |archive-date=10 March 2024 |access-date=25 March 2024 |website=Foreign Policy |language=en-US}}</ref> with an outdoorsy, athletic, tough guy public image, demonstrating his physical prowess and taking part in unusual or dangerous acts, such as extreme sports and interaction with wild animals,<ref name="abcnews.go.com">{{#invoke:cite|web|last = Bass |first = Sadie |url = https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2009/08/putin-bolsters-tough-guy-image-with-shirtless-photos/ |title = Putin Bolsters Tough Guy Image With Shirtless Photos, Australian Broadcasting Corporation |work = ABC News |date = 5 August 2009 |access-date = 22 June 2013 }}</ref> part of a public relations approach that, according to ''Wired'', "deliberately cultivates the macho, take-charge superhero image".<ref name="Superputin">{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Rawnsley |first = Adam |title = Pow! Zam! Nyet! 'Superputin' Battles Terrorists, Protesters in Online Comic |url = https://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/pow-zam-nyet-superputin-battles-terrorists-protesters-in-online-comic/ |access-date = 27 May 2011 |newspaper = Wired |date = 26 May 2011 }}</ref> In 2007, the tabloid ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' published a huge photograph of a shirtless Putin vacationing in the Siberian mountains under the headline "Be Like Putin".<ref name="putin-shirtless">{{#invoke:cite|news|agency = Associated Press |url = https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/putin-gone-wild-russia-abuzz-over-pics-of-shirtless-leader-1.639179 |title = Putin gone wild: Russia abuzz over pics of shirtless leader. |publisher = Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |date = 22 August 2007 |access-date = 2 March 2010 }}</ref> Tatiana Mikhailova opines that virility is an aspect of the image of the ''Father of the Nation'', which Putin wants to create. She refers to, as an example of the success of this image building attempt, a 2006 incident in which Putin lifted the shirt of a boy to kiss his stomach without permission – which did not cause much reaction in Russia even though, according to Mikhailova, it was unprecedented and transgressive by Russian standards and would have caused outrage in any other country (media reports note that there was widespread reaction in Russia and abroad, though).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Mikhailova|first1=Tatiana |editor-last1=Goscilo |editor-first1=Helena|contribution=Putin as the Father of the Nation |title=Putin as Celebrity and Cultural Icon |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-52851-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LLhuePPxR1MC&pg=PA76 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Walsh |first1=Nick Paton |title=Putin woos western critics with webcast |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jul/07/russia.bbc |work=The Guardian |date=7 July 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Putin recalls kissing boy's belly |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5155448.stm |agency=BBC |date=6 July 2006}}</ref>

Numerous Kremlinologists have accused Putin of seeking to create a cult of personality around himself, an accusation that the Kremlin has denied.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last1 = Kravchenko |first1 = Stepan |last2 = Biryukov |first2 = Andrey |url = https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-13/putin-doesn-t-like-cult-of-personality-of-putin-kremlin-says |title = Putin Doesn't Like Cult of Personality of Putin, Kremlin Says |publisher = Bloomberg L.P. |date = 13 March 2020 |access-date = 3 August 2021 }}</ref> Some of Putin's activities have been criticised for being staged;<ref name=amphorae>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8808689/Vladimir-Putin-diving-discovery-was-staged-spokesman-admits.html ''Vladimir Putin diving discovery was staged, spokesman admits''], ''The Daily Telegraph''. Retrieved 16 March 2012.</ref><ref name="Fishy">{{#invoke:cite|news|url = http://uk.reuters.com/article/oukoe-uk-russia-putin-fish-idUKBRE96S0CY20130729 |title = Russians smell something fishy in Putin's latest stunt |work = Reuters |access-date = 12 August 2013 |date = 29 July 2013 }}</ref> outside of Russia, his macho image has been the subject of parody.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|first1 = Boris |last1 = Kavic |first2 = Marja |last2 = Novak |first3 = Jeremy |last3 = Gaunt |url = https://www.reuters.com/article/us-slovenia-putin-song-idUSKCN0W90Y0 |title = Slovenian comedian rocks with Putin parody; Trump to follow |work = Reuters |date = 8 March 2016 |access-date = 21 May 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/03/a-senile-putin-becomes-a-parody-of-his-own-parody/ |title = A senile Putin becomes a parody of his own parody |date = 19 March 2016 |website = The Spectator |access-date = 18 May 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first = Maeve |last=Shearlaw |date = 9 September 2015 |url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/09/putin-macho-stunt-fitness-fitspiration-instagam |website = The Guardian |title = Let Putin be your fitness inspiration hero }}</ref> Putin's height has been estimated by Kremlin insiders to be between {{convert|155|and|165|cm|ftin|abbr=off}} tall but is usually given at {{convert|170|cm|ftin|abbr=off}}.<ref name="height">{{#invoke:cite|web|last = Van Vugt |first = Mark |author-link = Mark van Vugt |date = 7 May 2014 |title = Does Putin Suffer From the Napoleon Complex? |url = http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/naturally-selected/201405/does-putin-suffer-the-napoleon-complex |access-date = 7 December 2018 |website = Psychology Today }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/oct/18/world-leader-heights-tall |title = Statesmen and stature: how tall are our world leaders? |date = 18 October 2011 |website = The Guardian |access-date = 27 December 2018 }}</ref>

There are many songs about Putin,<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://www.openspace.ru/music_modern/projects/112/details/593/ |title = Песни про Путина |website = Openspace.ru |date = 14 March 2008 |access-date = 7 May 2012 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090918192949/http://www.openspace.ru/music_modern/projects/112/details/593 |archive-date = 18 September 2009 }}</ref> and Putin's name and image are widely used in advertisements and product branding.<ref name="Superputin" /> Among the Putin-branded products are Putinka vodka, the PuTin brand of canned food, the ''Gorbusha Putina'' caviar, and a collection of T-shirts with his image.<ref>[http://www.gazeta.spb.ru/12122-0/ Как используется бренд "Путин": зажигалки, икра, футболки, консервированный перец] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402153600/http://www.gazeta.spb.ru/12122-0/ |date=2 April 2015 }} Gazeta 30 November 2007.</ref>

=== Public recognition in the West === In 2007, he was the ''Time'' Person of the Year.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Person of the Year 2007 |url = http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/0,28757,1690753,00.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080907034052/http://time.com/time/specials/2007/0,28757,1690753,00.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = 7 September 2008 |magazine = Time |year = 2007 |access-date = 8 July 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Putin Answers Questions From Time Magazine |url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFMQz6AN3B0 |archive-url = https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/rFMQz6AN3B0 |archive-date = 11 December 2021 |url-status = live |via = YouTube |date = 20 December 2007 |access-date = 21 June 2016 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> In 2015, he was No. 1 on the ''Time's'' Most Influential People List.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://time.com/70855/vladimir-putin-2014-time-100/ |title=Vladimir Putin – The Russian Leader Who Truly Tests The West |first1=Madeleine |last1=Albright |date=23 April 2014 |magazine=Time |access-date=2 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.newsweek.com/putin-smart-truly-evil-man-says-madeleine-albright-450332 |title=Putin Is a 'Smart But Truly Evil Man,' says Madeleine Albright |first1=Damien |last1=Sharkov |date=20 April 2016 |magazine=Newsweek |access-date=2 November 2016}}</ref> ''Forbes'' ranked him the World's Most Powerful Individual every year from 2013 to 2016.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = The World's Most Powerful People 2016 |url = https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidewalt/2016/12/14/the-worlds-most-powerful-people-2016/ |work = Forbes |date = 14 December 2016 |quote = For the fourth consecutive year, Forbes ranked Russian President Vladimir Putin as the world's most powerful person. From the motherland to Syria to the U.S. presidential elections, Russia's leader continues to get what he wants. }}</ref> He was ranked the second-most-powerful individual by ''Forbes'' in 2018 the last year the list has been published.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidewalt/2018/05/08/the-worlds-most-powerful-people-2018 |title = The World's Most Powerful People 2018 |last1 = Ewalt |first1 = David M. |date = 8 May 2018 |work = Forbes |access-date = 10 May 2018 }}</ref>

In Germany, the word "Putinversteher" (female form "Putinversteherin") is a neologism and a political buzzword (''Putin'' + ''verstehen''), which literally translates "Putin understander", i.e., "one who understands Putin".<ref name="umland2016">{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Umland |first = Andreas |url = http://hir.harvard.edu/article/?a=12634 |title = The Putinverstehers' Misconceived Charge of Russophobia |date = 21 January 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170615114641/http://hir.harvard.edu/article/?a=12634 |archive-date = 15 June 2017 }}</ref> It is a pejorative reference to politicians and pundits who express empathy to Putin and may also be translated as "Putin-empathizer".<ref name="gregory">{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Gregory |first = Paul Roderick |url = https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2014/04/05/empathizing-with-the-devil-how-germanys-putin-verstehers-shield-russia/ |title = Empathizing With The Devil: How Germany's Putin–Verstehers Shield Russia |date = 5 April 2014 |website = Forbes }}</ref>

=== Putinisms === Putin has produced many aphorisms and catch-phrases known as putinisms.<ref name="putinisms">{{citation |last=Sukhotsky |first=Cyril |title= |date=5 March 2004 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/russia/newsid_3535000/3535811.stm |work=BBC Russian |trans-title=Putinism – 'Thoughtful personal outrageous?' |script-title=ru:Путинизмы – 'продуманный личный эпатаж?' |language=ru |access-date=}}</ref> Many of them were first made during his annual Q&A conferences, where Putin answered questions from journalists and other people in the studio, as well as from Russians throughout the country, who either phoned in or spoke from studios and outdoor sites across Russia. Putin is known for his often tough and sharp language, often alluding to Russian jokes and folk sayings.<ref name=putinisms /> Putin sometimes uses Russian criminal jargon (known as "fenya" in Russian), albeit not always correctly.<ref>{{citation |last=Kharatyan |first=Kirill |title= |date=25 December 2012 |url=http://www.vedomosti.ru/opinion/articles/2012/12/25/citata_nedeli |work=Vedomosti |trans-title=Vladimir Putin's Jargon |script-title=ru:Кирилл Харатьян: Жаргон Владимира Путина |language=ru |access-date=}}</ref>

== Assessments == [[File:Z symbol on a billboard.jpg|thumb|upright|Z symbol on a billboard reads Russian: {{lang|ru|За Путина}} ({{literally|For Putin}}), 24 September 2022]]

Assessments of Putin's character as a leader have evolved during his long presidency. His shifting of Russia towards autocracy and weakening of the system of representative government advocated by Boris Yeltsin has met with criticism.<ref>{{cite web|first = Alec|last = Luhn|url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/06/vladimir-putin-15-ways-he-changed-russia-world |title = 15 Years of Vladimir Putin: 15 Ways He Has Changed Russia and the World |website = The Guardian |date = 6 May 2015 }}</ref> Russian dissidents and western leaders now frequently characterise him as a dictator. Others have offered favourable assessments of his impact on Russia.

Otto von Habsburg, the last crown prince of Austria-Hungary and former Member of the European Parliament, was an early critic of Putin. In a newspaper interview<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article237556125/Wladimir-Putin-Eiskalter-Buerokrat-Otto-von-Habsburg-warnte-schon-2003-vor-ihm.html |title=Wladimir Putin: 'Eiskalter Bürokrat' – Otto von Habsburg warnte schon 2003 vor ihm |newspaper=Die Welt |date=15 March 2022 |last1=Jäkel |first1=Lara}}</ref> in 2002 and in two speeches<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om2Fl9Y3I2I |title=Über Putin: Wie Otto von Habsburg ihn einschätzte (2003 und 2005) |website=YouTube |date=8 March 2022}}</ref> in 2003 and 2005, he warned of Putin as an "international threat", that he was "cruel and oppressive", and a "stone cold technocrat".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/interview-mit-otto-von-habsburg-putin-ist-ein-eiskalter-technokrat-1.750949 |title=Putin ist ein eiskalter Technokrat |first=Oliver Das |last=Gupta |website=Süddeutsche.de |date=5 November 2005}}</ref>

Putin was described in 2015 as a "dictator" by political opponent Garry Kasparov,<ref>{{cite web|last = Kasparov |first = Garry |author-link = Garry Kasparov |title = Garry Kasparov: How the United States and Its Western Allies Propped Up Putin |url = https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/10/putin-russia-obama-kasparov/412804/ |website = The Atlantic |date = 28 October 2015 |access-date = 9 April 2016 }}</ref> and as the "Tsar of corruption" in 2016 by opposition activist and blogger Alexei Navalny.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-35388686|title=Alexei Navalny: 'Putin is the Tsar of corruption'|website=BBC|date=23 January 2016}}</ref> He was described as a "bully" and "arrogant" by former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton,<ref>{{cite web|first=Daniel |last=Strauss |url = https://www.politico.com/blogs/live-from-charleston-sc/2016/01/hillary-clinton-vladimir-putin-its-interesting-217926 |title = Hillary Clinton Describes Relationship With Putin: 'It's... interesting' |date = 17 January 2016 |website = Politico |access-date = 14 April 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Hillary Clinton: Putin is Arrogant and Tough |url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wJXJWL8XgY |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160625091510/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wJXJWL8XgY&gl=US&hl=en |archive-date = 25 June 2016 |url-status = dead |via = YouTube |publisher = GPS with Fareed Zakaria |date = 27 July 2014 |access-date = 15 July 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Zakaria|first=Fareed|title = President Vladimir Putin on Sec. Hillary Clinton |url = http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/06/17/exp-gps-putin-on-hillary.cnn |publisher =CNN |access-date = 15 July 2016 }}</ref> and as "self-centered" by the Dalai Lama.<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/vladimir-putin/11080133/Dalai-Lama-attacks-self-centred-Vladimir-Putin.html |archive-url = https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/vladimir-putin/11080133/Dalai-Lama-attacks-self-centred-Vladimir-Putin.html |archive-date = 10 January 2022 |url-access = subscription |url-status = live |title = Dalai Lama attacks 'self-centered' Vladimir Putin|last=Henderson|first=Barney|date = 7 September 2014 |work = The Daily Telegraph |access-date = 9 April 2016 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> In 2015, opposition politician Boris Nemtsov said that Putin was turning Russia into a "raw materials colony" of China.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/01/05/decoding-vladimir-putins-plan-for-russia |title = Decoding Vladimir Putin's Plan |website = U.S. News & World Report |date = 5 January 2015 }}</ref>

Former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger wrote in 2014 that the West has demonized Putin.<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/henry-kissinger-to-settle-the-ukraine-crisis-start-at-the-end/2014/03/05/46dad868-a496-11e3-8466-d34c451760b9_story.html |first = Henry |last= Kissinger |title = How The Ukraine Crisis Ends |newspaper = The Washington Post |date = 5 March 2014 |author-link = Henry Kissinger }}</ref> Egon Krenz, former leader of East Germany, said the Cold War never ended, adding: "After weak presidents like Gorbachev and Yeltsin, it is a great fortune for Russia that it has Putin".<ref>{{cite news|last1 = Rosenberg |first1 = Steve |title = Berlin Wall anniversary: The 'worst night of my life' |publisher = BBC News |date = 9 October 2019 |url = https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49971599 |access-date = 21 July 2020 }}</ref>

Many Russians credit Putin for reviving Russia's fortunes.<ref name="International Business Times-2014">{{cite web|url = http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mikhail-gorbachev-claims-vladimir-putin-saved-russia-falling-apart-1481065 |title = Mikhail Gorbachev claims Vladimir Putin saved Russia from falling apart |website = International Business Times |date = 27 December 2014 }}</ref> Former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev, while acknowledging the flawed democratic procedures and restrictions on media freedom during the Putin presidency, said that Putin had pulled Russia out of chaos at the end of the Yeltsin years, and that Russians "must remember that Putin saved Russia from the beginning of a collapse".<ref name="International Business Times-2014" /><ref>{{cite news|first = Doug |last = Struck |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/04/AR2007120402218.html |title = Gorbachev Applauds Putin's Achievements |newspaper = The Washington Post |date = 5 December 2007 }}</ref> Chechen Republic head and Putin supporter, Ramzan Kadyrov, stated prior to 2011 that Putin saved both the Chechen people and Russia.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SGKM0BjaQJcC&dq=kadyrov+putin+%22saved+russia%22&pg=PA278|title=State Building in Putin's Russia: Policing and Coercion after Communism|page=278|first=Brian D.|last=Taylor|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, England|isbn=978-0-521-76088-1|date=2011}}</ref>

Russia has suffered democratic backsliding during Putin's tenure.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bader |first1=Max |last2=van Ham |first2=Carolien |year=2015 |title=What explains regional variation in election fraud? Evidence from Russia: a research note |journal=Post-Soviet Affairs |volume=31 |issue=6 |pages=514–528 |doi=10.1080/1060586X.2014.969023 |s2cid=154548875 |issn=1060-586X |url=https://ris.utwente.nl/ws/files/276252005/Bader2015what.pdf |access-date=14 July 2023 |archive-date=9 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230709195613/https://ris.utwente.nl/ws/files/276252005/Bader2015what.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> Freedom House has listed Russia as being "not free" since 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2005/russia|title=Russia {{!}} Country report {{!}} Freedom in the World {{!}} 2005|publisher=Dreedom House|access-date=30 December 2016|archive-date=31 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161231075259/https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2005/russia|url-status=dead}}</ref> Experts do not generally consider Russia to be a democracy,<ref name="Gill-20162" /><ref name="Diamond-2015">{{Cite journal |last=Diamond |first=Larry |date=7 January 2015 |title=Facing Up to the Democratic Recession |journal=Journal of Democracy |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore, Maryland |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=141–155 |doi=10.1353/jod.2015.0009 |s2cid=38581334 |issn=1086-3214 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/565645|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Levitsky-2010">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NZDI05p1PDgC |title=Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War |last1=Levitsky |first1=Steven |last2=Way |first2=Lucan A. |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, England |isbn=978-1-139-49148-8}}</ref> citing purges and jailing of political opponents,<ref name="Reuter-20172" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gainous |first1=Jason |last2=Wagner |first2=Kevin M. |last3=Ziegler |first3=Charles E. |year=2018 |title=Digital media and political opposition in authoritarian systems: Russia's 2011 and 2016 Duma elections |journal=Democratization |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=209–226 |doi=10.1080/13510347.2017.1315566 |s2cid=152199313 |issn=1351-0347}}</ref> curtailed press freedom,<ref>{{cite book |last=Gelman |first=Vladimir |title=Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |year=2015 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt155jmv1 |isbn=978-0-8229-6368-4 |jstor=j.ctt155jmv1 |author-link=Vladimir Gelman}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Ross |first=Cameron |year=2018 |title=Regional elections in Russia: instruments of authoritarian legitimacy or instability? |journal=Palgrave Communications |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=1–9 |article-number=75 |doi=10.1057/s41599-018-0137-1 |issn=2055-1045 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=White |first=Stephen |editor1-first=Stephen |editor1-last=White |date=2014 |title=Russia's Authoritarian Elections |doi=10.4324/9781315872100 |isbn=978-1-315-87210-0}}</ref> and the lack of free and fair elections.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ross |first=Cameron |year=2011 |title=Regional Elections and Electoral Authoritarianism in Russia |journal=Europe-Asia Studies |volume=63 |issue=4 |pages=641–661 |doi=10.1080/09668136.2011.566428 |s2cid=154016379 |issn=0966-8136}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Skovoroda |first1=Rodion |author2-link=Tomila Lankina |last2=Lankina |first2=Tomila |year=2017 |title=Fabricating votes for Putin: new tests of fraud and electoral manipulations from Russia |journal=Post-Soviet Affairs |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=100–123 |doi=10.1080/1060586X.2016.1207988 |s2cid=54830119 |issn=1060-586X |url=https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/67182/}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Moser |first1=Robert G. |last2=White |first2=Allison C. |year=2017 |title=Does electoral fraud spread? The expansion of electoral manipulation in Russia |journal=Post-Soviet Affairs |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=85–99 |doi=10.1080/1060586X.2016.1153884 |s2cid=54037737 |issn=1060-586X}}</ref> In 2004, Freedom House warned that Russia's "retreat from freedom marks a low point not registered since 1989, when the country was part of the Soviet Union".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url=https://freedomhouse.org/article/russia-downgraded-not-free?page=70&release=242|title=Russia Downgraded to 'Not Free' {{!}} Freedom House|website=freedomhouse.org|access-date=30 December 2016|archive-date=1 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170101001014/https://freedomhouse.org/article/russia-downgraded-not-free?page=70&release=242|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Economist Intelligence Unit has rated Russia as "authoritarian" since 2011,<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://www.yabiladi.com/img/content/EIU-Democracy-Index-2015.pdf |title = Democracy Index 2015: Democracy in an age of anxiety |website = yabiladi.com }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2022/02/09/a-new-low-for-global-democracy |title = A new low for global democracy |newspaper = The Economist |date = 9 February 2022 }}</ref> whereas it had previously been considered a "hybrid regime" (with "some form of democratic government" in place).<ref name="Democracy">{{cite news|url = https://www.economist.com/media/pdf/DEMOCRACY_INDEX_2007_v3.pdf |title = Index of democracy by Economist Intelligence Unit |last = Kekic |first = Laza |newspaper = The Economist |access-date = 27 December 2007 }}</ref> According to political scientist Larry Diamond, writing in 2015, "no serious scholar would consider Russia today a democracy".<ref name="Diamond-2015" />

Following the jailing of the anti-corruption blogger and activist Alexei Navalny in 2018, ''Forbes'' wrote: "Putin's actions are those of a dictator... As a leader with failing public support, he can only remain in power by using force and repression that gets worse by the day".<ref>{{cite web|first=Paul Roderick|last=Gregory|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2013/07/18/putin-declares-himself-dictator-with-the-navalny-verdict/?sh=56d835b60b48|title=Putin Declares Himself Dictator With The Navalny Verdict|website=Forbes|date=18 July 2018}}</ref> In November 2021, ''The Economist'' also noted that Putin had "shifted from autocracy to dictatorship".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/briefing/2021/11/13/vladimir-putin-has-shifted-from-autocracy-to-dictatorship|title=Vladimir Putin has shifted from autocracy to dictatorship|newspaper=The Economist|date=13 November 2021}}</ref>

In a 2015 opinion article for ''The Wall Street Journal'', former U.S. ambassador to Germany John Kornblum disputed Putin's claim that Russia had been betrayed by the West after the Cold War. Kornblum argued that Western governments had not intended to humiliate Russia and had observed the agreements reached with Moscow in the early 1990s.<ref name="jkwsj">{{cite news|last1 = Kornblum |first1 = John |title = Time to Stop Letting Putin Win the War of Words |url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/john-kornblum-time-to-stop-letting-putin-win-the-war-of-words-1423438339 |work = The Wall Street Journal |date = 8 February 2015 }}</ref>

In her 2017 book ''Red Hangover: Legacies of Twentieth-Century Communism'', Kristen Ghodsee argued that the triumphalist attitudes of Western powers at the end of the Cold War, and the fixation with linking all leftist and socialist political ideals with the horrors of Stalinism, allowed neoliberalism to fill the void, undermined democratic institutions and reforms, left a trail of economic misery, unemployment, hopelessness and rising inequality throughout the former Eastern Bloc. This includes Russia, helping fuel the rise of Putin's extremist right-wing nationalism.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ghodsee |first=Kristen|date=2017 |title=Red Hangover: Legacies of Twentieth-Century Communism |url=https://www.dukeupress.edu/red-hangover|publisher=Duke University Press|location=Durham, North Carolina |pages=xix–xx, 134, 197–200 |isbn=978-0-8223-6949-3}}</ref>

=== After the 2022 invasion of Ukraine === [[File:Every Night for Ukraine 022 Russian Embassy Finland (51913217218).jpg|thumb|Protest sign in front of the Russian embassy in Finland. Putin has been labeled a war criminal by international law experts.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ukraine war: Putin should face trial this year, says top lawyer |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64138851 |work=BBC News |date=1 January 2023}}</ref>]]

Following mounting civilian casualties during the Russian invasion of Ukraine,<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/thousands-civilians-mariupol-may-have-died-past-month-un-tells-reuters-2022-03-29/ |title = Thousands of civilians in Mariupol may have died in past month – UN tells Reuters |work = Reuters |date = 29 March 2022 }}</ref> U.S. president Joe Biden called Putin a war criminal and "murderous dictator".<ref name="Putin according to Biden">{{cite news|last1 = Parker |first1 = Ashley |title = Biden calls Putin a 'war criminal' |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/16/biden-zelensky-speech-response-aid/ |newspaper = The Washington Post |access-date = 18 March 2022 |date = 17 March 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1 = Vazquez |first1 = Maegan |last2 = Carvajal |first2 = Nikki |title = Biden calls Putin a 'murderous dictator' and 'pure thug' |url = https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/17/politics/biden-putin-pure-thug/index.html |access-date = 6 April 2022 |website = CNN |date = 17 March 2022 }}</ref> In the 2022 State of the Union Address, Biden said that Putin had "badly miscalculated".<ref>{{cite web|first=Lauren|last=Gambino|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/01/joe-biden-ukraine-state-of-the-union |title=State of the Union: Joe Biden pledges to make Putin pay for Ukraine invasion|website=The Guardian|date=2 March 2022}}</ref> The Ukrainian envoy to the United Nations, Sergiy Kyslytsya likened Putin to Adolf Hitler.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.news.com.au/national/ukraines-un-envoy-likens-putin-to-hitler/video/1717033aba4373b46eb28437fac6aba2|title=Ukraine's U.N. envoy likens Putin to Hitler|website=News.com.au|date=1 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307020722/https://www.news.com.au/national/ukraines-un-envoy-likens-putin-to-hitler/video/1717033aba4373b46eb28437fac6aba2 |archive-date=7 March 2022 }}</ref> Latvian prime minister Krisjanis Karins also likened the Russian leader to Hitler, saying he was "a deluded autocrat creating misery for millions" and that "Putin is fighting against democracy (...) If he can attack Ukraine, theoretically it could be any other European country".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-launch-new-sanctions-against-russia-over-barbaric-attack-ukraine-2022-02-24/|title=EU targets Russian economy after 'deluded autocrat' Putin invades Ukraine|work=Reuters|date=25 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/latvias-pm-says-putin-his-regime-need-be-isolated-world-2022-02-24/|title=Latvia's PM says Putin and his regime need to be isolated from the world|work=Reuters|date=25 February 2022}}</ref>

Lithuania's foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, stated, "The battle for Ukraine is a battle for Europe. If Putin is not stopped there, he will go further."<ref>[https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/eu-to-impose-unprecedented-sanctions-on-russia-as-leaders-meet-1.4811001 "EU to impose unprecedented sanctions on Russia as leaders meet"]; ''The Irish Times'']; 24 February 2022</ref> French President Emmanuel Macron said Putin was "deluding himself".<ref>{{cite web|access-date=20 March 2023 |date=3 March 2022 |first1=Aurelien |first2=Anton |last1=Breeden |last2=Troianovski |title=A Putin-Macron call leaves France persuaded that Russia wants 'control of all of Ukraine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/03/world/europe/putin-macron-call.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref> French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian denounced him as "a cynic and a dictator".<ref>{{Cite web |title=After Putin highlights Russia's nukes, France retorts: NATO is a nuclear alliance |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-putin-highlights-russias-nukes-france-retorts-nato-is-a-nuclear-alliance/ |access-date=20 April 2025 |website=The Times of Israel |date=25 February 2022 |language=en-US |agency=Agence France-Presse}}</ref> Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Putin "a lying, murderous dictator".<ref>{{cite news|title= Trudeau slams Trump for starting a trade war with Canada while appeasing Putin |first= Rob |last= Gillies |date= 5 March 2025 |work= Associated Press News |language= en |url= https://apnews.com/article/trudeau-trump-canada-tariffs-us-5d5ef8bd41c4567926d543a9526b2e84 |access-date= 7 March 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250307072935/https://apnews.com/article/trudeau-trump-canada-tariffs-us-5d5ef8bd41c4567926d543a9526b2e84 |archive-date= 7 March 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref> UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also labelled Putin a "dictator" who had authorised "a tidal wave of violence against a fellow Slavic people".<ref>{{cite web|first=Rob|last=Merrick|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-putin-russia-speech-ukraine-war-b2022309.html|title=Boris Johnson brands Putin 'dictator' and vows to end 'hideous and barbaric' Ukrainian war|website=The Independent|date=24 February 2022}}</ref> Several authors and academics, such as Michael Hirsh, described Putin as a "messianic" Russian nationalist and Eurasianist.<ref>{{cite news|first=Michael |last=Hirsch |authorlink=Michael Hirsh (journalist) |title = Putin's Thousand-Year War |url = https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/12/putins-thousand-year-war/ |work = Foreign Policy |date = 12 March 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title = The cocktail of ideologies behind Vladimir Putin |url = https://www.dw.com/en/the-cocktail-of-ideologies-behind-vladimir-putin/a-61242466 |website = Deutsche Welle |date = 24 March 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first = Jane |last = Burbank |title = The Grand Theory Driving Putin to War |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/22/opinion/russia-ukraine-putin-eurasianism.html |work = The New York Times |date = 22 March 2022 }}</ref>

In a March 2025 essay in ''The Atlantic'', Franklin Foer argued that Putin's rule had had consequences beyond Russia, including for democratic development in neighboring states and for relations between Russia and the West.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/03/putin-russia-won/681959/|first1=Franklin|last1=Foer|website=The Atlantic|date=8 March 2025|access-date=8 March 2025|title=Putin Won}}</ref> == Electoral history == {{Main|Electoral history of Vladimir Putin}}

Vladimir Putin has been nominated and elected as President of Russia all five times since 2000, typically under an independent banner. In the most recent 2024 Russian presidential election, Putin achieved 88% of the popular vote.<ref>{{cite news |title=Putin 2024: Meduza breaks down the evidence pointing to the most fraudulent elections in modern Russian history |url=https://meduza.io/en/feature/2024/03/21/putin-2024 |work=Meduza |date=20 March 2024}}</ref> There were reports of irregularities at this election,<ref>{{cite news |title='Shpilkin method': Statistical tool gauges voter fraud in Putin landslide |url=https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240320-shpilkin-method-statistical-analysis-gauges-voter-fraud-in-putin-landslide |work=France 24 |date=20 March 2024}}</ref> including ballot stuffing and coercion.<ref>{{cite news |title=Russian Presidential Vote an 'Imitation,' Election Watchdog Golos Says |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/18/russian-presidential-vote-an-imitation-election-watchdog-golos-says-a84511 |work=The Moscow Times |date=18 March 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=14 March 2024 |title=Ukrainians living under Russian occupation are coerced to vote for Putin |url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-occupied-election-voting-arrests-eb0b0d872cf55e561dc221bbc53d63d4 |access-date=14 March 2024 |website=Associated Press |language=en |archive-date=14 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240314171133/https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-occupied-election-voting-arrests-eb0b0d872cf55e561dc221bbc53d63d4 |url-status=live}}</ref> Russian authorities claimed that in occupied areas of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Vasilyeva |first1=Olga |title=The election that wasn't |url=https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2024/03/20/the-election-that-wasnt-en |work=Novaya Gazeta Europe |date=20 March 2024}}</ref> Putin won 88.12% and 92.83% of votes.<ref>{{cite news |title=After Putin's election: Further isolation of Russia? |url=https://jam-news.net/putins-fifth-term-will-russia-become-more-isolated/ |work=JAMnews |date=20 March 2024}}</ref> In Chechnya, Putin won 98.99% of the vote.<ref name="Le Monde">{{cite news |title=The extent of fraud in Russia's presidential election begins to emerge |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/03/20/the-extent-of-fraud-in-russia-s-presidential-election-begins-to-emerge_6638830_4.html |work=Le Monde |date=20 March 2024}}</ref>

== Personal life == === Family === {{Main|Family of Vladimir Putin}}

[[File:Vladimir Putin wedding-2.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|Putin and Lyudmila Putina during their wedding on 28 July 1983]]

On 28 July 1983, Putin married Lyudmila Shkrebneva, and they lived together in East Germany from 1985 to 1990. They have two daughters, Maria Putina, born on 28 April 1985 in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), and Yekaterina Putina, born on 31 August 1986 in Dresden, East Germany (now Germany).<ref>{{harv|Sakwa|2008|p=}}{{page needed|date=February 2022}}</ref>

An investigation by ''Proekt'' published in November 2020 alleged that Putin has another daughter, Elizaveta, also known as Luiza Rozova,<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last1 = Sonne |first1 = Paul |last2 = Miller |first2 = Greg |date = 3 October 2021 |title = Secret money, swanky real estate and a Monte Carlo mystery |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2021/putin-monaco-luxury-apartment/ |url-status = live |newspaper = The Washington Post |location = Washington, D.C. |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211003164926/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2021/putin-monaco-luxury-apartment/ |archive-date = 3 October 2021 |access-date = 6 October 2021 }}</ref> (born in March 2003),<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Harding |first = Luke |date = 3 October 2021 |title = Pandora papers reveal hidden riches of Putin's inner circle |url = https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/oct/03/pandora-papers-reveal-hidden-wealth-vladimir-putin-inner-circle |url-status = live |work =The Guardian |location = London |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211003165551/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/oct/03/pandora-papers-reveal-hidden-wealth-vladimir-putin-inner-circle |archive-date = 3 October 2021 |access-date = 6 October 2021 }}</ref> with Svetlana Krivonogikh.<ref name="Proekt201125">{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://maski-proekt.media/putin-secret-family/index.html |title = An investigation into how a close acquaintance of Vladimir Putin attained a piece of Russia |last1 = Zakharov |first1 = Andrey |last2 = Badanin |first2 = Roman |author-link2 = Roman Badanin |last3 = Rubin |first3 = Mikhail |date = 25 November 2020 |website = maski-proekt.media |publisher = Proekt |access-date = 5 October 2021 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201125093709/https://maski-proekt.media/putin-secret-family/index.html |archive-date = 25 November 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|date = 25 November 2020 |title = Investigation Claims to Uncover Putin's Extramarital Daughter |url = https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/11/25/investigation-claims-to-uncover-putins-extramarital-daughter-a72146 |url-status = live |work = Moscow Times |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201125135223/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/11/25/investigation-claims-to-uncover-putins-extramarital-daughter-a72146 |archive-date = 25 November 2020 |access-date = 5 October 2021 }}</ref> Elizaveta studied in Paris under the name Elizaveta Olegovna Rudnova.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/putin-daughter-paris-dj-luiza-rozova-b2655871.html|title=Putin's secret daughter 'part-time DJ living in Paris under pseudonym'|date=29 November 2024|website=The Independent}}</ref> In April 2008, the ''Moskovsky Korrespondent'' reported that Putin had divorced Lyudmila and was engaged to marry Olympic gold medalist Alina Kabaeva, a former rhythmic gymnast and Russian politician.<ref name="RFERL080418">{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.rferl.org/a/1109593.html |title = Putin Romance Rumors Keep Public Riveted |date = 18 April 2008 |publisher = Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |access-date = 3 October 2021 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200519113613/https://www.rferl.org/a/1109593.html |archive-date = 19 May 2020 }}</ref> The story was denied,<ref name=RFERL080418 /> and the newspaper was shut down shortly thereafter.<ref name="NYT120505">{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Herszenhorn |first = David M. |title = In the Spotlight of Power, Putin Keeps His Private Life Veiled in Shadows |date = 5 May 2012 |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/world/europe/preparing-return-to-presidency-putin-keeps-his-private-life-off-limits.html |url-status = live |work = The New York Times |location = New York City |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120509010405/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/world/europe/preparing-return-to-presidency-putin-keeps-his-private-life-off-limits.html |archive-date = 9 May 2012 |access-date = 3 October 2021 |url-access = registration }}</ref> Putin and Lyudmila continued to make public appearances together as spouses,<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Vladimir Putin and Google: The most popular search queries answered |date = 19 March 2018 |url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-43389407 |url-status = live |work =BBC News |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180319080508/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43389407 |archive-date = 19 March 2018 |access-date = 3 October 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = A new Russian first Lady? Putin hints he may marry again |date = 20 December 2018 |url = https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-putin-marriage/a-new-russian-first-lady-putin-hints-he-may-marry-again-idUSKCN1OJ29G |url-status = live |work = Reuters |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181220213044/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-putin-marriage/a-new-russian-first-lady-putin-hints-he-may-marry-again-idUSKCN1OJ29G |archive-date = 20 December 2018 |access-date = 3 October 2021 }}</ref> while the status of his relationship with Kabaeva became a topic of speculation.<ref name="Times150314">{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Hoyle |first = Ben |title = Motherland is gripped by baby talk that Putin is father again |date = 14 March 2015 |url = https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/motherland-is-gripped-by-baby-talk-that-putin-is-father-again-973lbhc6pmd |work = The Times |location = London |access-date = 3 October 2021 |url-access = limited }}</ref>

On 6 June 2013, Putin and Lyudmila announced that their marriage was over; on 1 April 2014, the Kremlin confirmed that the divorce had been finalised.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Russia President Vladimir Putin's divorce goes through |url = https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26850204 |access-date = 2 April 2014 |work =BBC News |date = 2 April 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140402191158/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26850204 |archive-date = 2 April 2014 |url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Allen |first = Cooper |date = 2 April 2014 |title = Putin divorce finalized, Kremlin says |url = https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/04/02/vladimir-putin-divorce/7210689/ |url-status = live |work = USA Today |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140403025005/http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/04/02/vladimir-putin-divorce/7210689/ |archive-date = 3 April 2014 |access-date = 3 October 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = MacFarquahar |first = Neil |date = 13 March 2015 |title = Putin Has Vanished, but Rumors Are Popping Up Everywhere |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/14/world/europe/russia-putin-seen-in-public.html |newspaper = The New York Times |access-date = 3 October 2021 |url-access = registration }}</ref> Kabaeva reportedly gave birth to a daughter by Putin in 2015;<ref name="NEWSru150519" /><ref name="NW160202">{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Sharkov |first = Damien |title = What Do We Know About Putin's Family? |date = 2 February 2016 |url = https://www.newsweek.com/what-do-we-know-about-putins-family-422075 |url-status = live |work = Newsweek |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20260210162208/https://www.newsweek.com/what-do-we-know-about-putins-family-422075 |archive-date = 10 February 2026 |access-date = 3 October 2021 }}</ref> this report was denied.<ref name="NEWSru150519">{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.newsru.com/russia/19may2015/alina.html |title = Алина Кабаева после долгого перерыва вышла в свет, вызвав слухи о новой беременности (ФОТО, ВИДЕО) |date = 19 May 2015 |website = NEWSru |language = ru |trans-title = Alina Kabaeva made a public appearance after a long hiatus, sparking rumors of a new pregnancy (Photo, Video) |access-date = 3 October 2021 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150522004528/http://www.newsru.com/russia/19may2015/alina.html |archive-date = 22 May 2015 }}</ref> Kabaeva reportedly gave birth to twin sons by Putin in 2019.<ref name="Times190526">{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Campbell |first = Matthew |date = 26 May 2019 |title = Kremlin silent on reports Vladimir Putin and Alina Kabaeva, his 'secret first lady', have had twins |work = The Times |url = https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/kremlin-silent-on-reports-vladimir-putin-and-alina-kabaeva-his-secret-first-lady-have-had-twins-dqvrpkrgc |url-access = limited |access-date = 3 October 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last = Dettmer |first = Jamie |date = 28 May 2019 |title = Reports of Putin Fathering Twins Test Free Speech in Russia |url = https://www.voanews.com/europe/reports-putin-fathering-twins-test-free-speech-russia |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191113224242/https://www.voanews.com/europe/reports-putin-fathering-twins-test-free-speech-russia |archive-date = 13 November 2019 |access-date = 23 October 2020 |publisher = Voice of America }}</ref> However, in 2022, Swiss media, citing the couple's Swiss gynecologist, wrote that on both occasions Kabaeva gave birth to a boy.<ref name="SonntagsZeitung">{{#invoke:cite|news |last1=Besson |first1=Sylvain |last2=Odehnal |first2=Bernhard |date=30 April 2022 |title=Russisches Staatsgeheimnis – Putins Sohn wurde im Tessin geboren |trans-title=Russian state secret – Putin's son was born in Ticino |url=https://www.derbund.ch/putins-sohn-wurde-im-tessin-geboren-648161452864 |access-date=1 May 2022 |newspaper=Der Bund |language=de}}</ref>

Putin has two grandsons, born in 2012 and 2017,<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Путин сообщил о рождении второго внука |date = 15 June 2017 |url = https://www.ntv.ru/novosti/1820542/ |publisher = NTV |trans-title = Putin announced the birth of a second grandson |language = ru |access-date = 3 October 2021 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170616132421/https://www.ntv.ru/novosti/1820542/ |archive-date = 16 June 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|agency = Agence France-Presse |title = Russia's Putin opens up about grandchildren, appeals for family privacy during live TV show |date = 15 June 2017 |url = https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/2098540/russias-putin-opens-about-grandchildren-appeals |url-status = live |work = South China Morning Post |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170615120150/https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/2098540/russias-putin-opens-about-grandchildren-appeals |archive-date = 15 June 2017 |access-date = 3 October 2021 }}</ref> through Maria.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last1 = Soshnikov |first1 = Andrei |last2 = Reiter |first2 = Svetlana |date = 8 April 2022 |title = The Secretive Life Of The Dutch Man Who Was Believed To Be Vladimir Putin's Son-In-Law: An Investigation |url = https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-daughters-son-in-law-secretive-life-sanctions-faassen/31793489.html |url-status = live |publisher = Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220408193021/https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-daughters-son-in-law-secretive-life-sanctions-faassen/31793489.html |archive-date = 8 April 2022 |access-date = 9 April 2022 }}</ref> He reportedly also has a granddaughter, born in 2017, through Katerina.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|date = 19 May 2022 |title = Investigation Links German Ex-Ballet Director Zelensky with Putin's Daughter |url = https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/05/19/investigation-links-german-ex-ballet-director-zelensky-with-putins-daughter-a77728 |url-status = live |work = Moscow Times |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220519043505/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/05/19/russia-ukraine-trade-barbs-over-europes-largest-nuclear-plant-a77725 |archive-date = 19 May 2022 |access-date = 20 May 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Oltermann |first = Philip |date = 19 May 2022 |title = Putin's daughter flew to Munich 'more than 50 times' in two years, leaks reveal |url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/19/putins-daughter-flew-to-munich-more-than-50-times-investigation-suggests |url-status = live |work =The Guardian |location = London |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220519205338/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/19/putins-daughter-flew-to-munich-more-than-50-times-investigation-suggests |archive-date = 19 May 2022 |access-date = 20 May 2022 }}</ref> His cousin, Igor Putin, was a director at Moscow-based Master Bank and was accused in a number of money-laundering scandals.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-the-danske-bank-money-laundering-scheme-involving-230-billion-unraveled-60-minutes-2019-05-19/ |title = How the Danske Bank money-laundering scheme involving $230 billion unraveled |last = Kroft |first = Steve |date = 19 May 2019 |publisher = CBS News |access-date = 3 October 2021 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190520004946/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-the-danske-bank-money-laundering-scheme-involving-230-billion-unraveled-60-minutes-2019-05-19/ |archive-date = 20 May 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.reportingproject.net/therussianlaundromat/the-russian-banks-and-putins-cousin.php |title = OCCRP – The Russian Banks and Putin's Cousin |website = reportingproject.net |access-date = 10 June 2019 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160506173307/https://www.reportingproject.net/therussianlaundromat/the-russian-banks-and-putins-cousin.php |archive-date = 6 May 2016 }}</ref>

=== Wealth === {{See also|Panama Papers|Pandora Papers}}

Official figures released during the legislative election of 2007 put Putin's wealth at approximately 3.7 million rubles (US$280,000) in bank accounts, a private {{convert|77.4|m2|adj=on|sqft|sp=us}} apartment in Saint Petersburg, and miscellaneous other assets.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://money.com/vladimir-putin-net-worth/ |title=Is Vladimir Putin Secretly the Richest Man in the World? |date=23 January 2017 |first1=Rob |last1=Wile |magazine=Money |access-date=5 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://www.quote.ru/fterm/emitent.shtml?49/1249 |title = Quote.Rbc.Ru :: Аюмй Яюмйр-Оерепаспц – Юйжхх, Ярпсйрспю, Мнбнярх, Тхмюмяш |publisher = Quote.ru |access-date = 2 March 2010 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071026102505/http://www.quote.ru/fterm/emitent.shtml?49%2F1249 |archive-date = 26 October 2007 }}</ref> Putin's reported 2006 income totaled 2 million rubles (approximately $152,000). In 2012, Putin reported an income of 3.6 million rubles ($270,000).<ref>[http://www.rg.ru/2007/10/27/vibori.html ЦИК зарегистрировал список "ЕР"] Rossiyskaya Gazeta N 4504 27 October 2007.</ref><ref>[http://www.vz.ru/politics/2007/10/26/120491.html ЦИК раскрыл доходы Путина] Vzglyad. 26 October 2007.</ref> Putin has been photographed wearing several expensive wristwatches, collectively valued at $700,000, nearly six times his annual salary.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/06/putins-extravagant-700000-watch-collection/ |title = Putin's Extravagant $700,000 Watch Collection |date = 8 June 2012 |publisher = ABC News |access-date = 1 February 2019 |first = Kirit |last = Radia }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/how-vladimir-putin-spends-his-mysterious-fortune-rumoured-to-be-worth-70-billion-a7805026.html |date = 23 June 2017 |access-date = 1 February 2019 |title = How Vladimir Putin spends his mysterious fortune rumoured to be worth $70 billion |work = The Independent |first = Mary |last = Hanbury }}</ref> Putin has been known on occasion to give watches valued at thousands of dollars as gifts, for example a watch identified as a Blancpain to a Siberian boy he met while on vacation in 2009, and another similar watch to a factory worker the same year.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/06/putins-extravagant-700000-watch-collection |title = Putin's Extravagant $700,000 Watch Collection |website = ABC News |date = 8 June 2012 }}</ref>

[[File:Opening of the Crimean bridge (2018-05-15) 01.jpg|thumb|Putin's close associate Arkady Rotenberg is mentioned in the Panama Papers, pictured in 2018.]]

According to Russian opposition politicians and journalists,<ref>[http://www.wps.ru/en/pp/story/2007/03/12.html Gennadi Timchenko: Russia's most low-profile billionaire] ''Sobesednik'' No. 10, 7 March 2007.</ref><ref name=Guardian_40bn>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/dec/21/russia.topstories3 |title = Putin, the Kremlin power struggle and the $40bn fortune |work =The Guardian |date = 21 December 2007 |last = Harding |first = Luke |access-date = 18 August 2008 |location = London }}</ref> Putin secretly possesses a multi-billion-dollar fortune via successive ownership of stakes in several Russian companies.<ref name=Is>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Is Vladimir Putin the richest man on earth? |url = http://www.news.com.au/money/money-matters/is-vladimir-putin-the-richest-man-on-earth/story-e6frfmd9-1226727457378 |newspaper = News.com.au |date = 26 September 2013 |access-date = 26 September 2013 |archive-date = 8 December 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131208183550/http://www.news.com.au/money/money-matters/is-vladimir-putin-the-richest-man-on-earth/story-e6frfmd9-1226727457378 |url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/what-is-russian-president-vladimir-putins-net-worth |title = What is Russian President Vladimir Putin's net worth? |last = Joyce |first = Kathleen |date = 29 June 2019 |website = Fox Business |access-date = 30 June 2019 }}</ref> According to one editorial in ''The Washington Post'', "Putin might not technically own these 43 aircraft, but, as the sole political power in Russia, he can act like they're his".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Is Vladimir Putin hiding a $200 billion fortune? (And if so, does it matter?) |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/02/20/is-vladimir-putin-hiding-a-200-billion-fortune-and-if-so-does-it-matter/ |newspaper = The Washington Post |first = Adam |last = Tayor |access-date = 19 March 2017 }}</ref> An RIA Novosti journalist argued that "[Western] intelligence agencies ... could not find anything". These contradictory claims were analyzed by Polygraph.info,<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.polygraph.info/a/putin-wealth-aslund-propaganda-fact-check/29940697.html |title = Are 'Putin's Billions' a Myth? |author = William Echols |date = 14 May 2019 |website = Polygraph.info |access-date = 16 May 2019 }}</ref> which looked at several reports by Western (Anders Åslund estimate of $100–160 billion) and Russian (Stanislav Belkovsky estimated of $40 billion) analysts, CIA (estimate of $40 billion in 2007) as well as counterarguments of Russian media. Polygraph concluded:

{{blockquote|text=There is uncertainty on the precise sum of Putin's wealth, and the assessment by the Director of U.S. National Intelligence apparently is not yet complete. However, with the pile of evidence and documents in the Panama Papers and in the hands of independent investigators such as those cited by Dawisha, Polygraph.info finds that Danilov's claim that Western intelligence agencies have not been able to find evidence of Putin's wealth to be misleading|sign=Polygraph.info|source="Are 'Putin's Billions' a Myth?"|title=}} In April 2016, 11 million documents belonging to Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca were leaked to the German newspaper ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' and the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The name of Putin does not appear in any of the records, and Putin denied his involvement with the company.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last1 = Luhn |first1 = Alec |last2 = Harding |first2 = Luke |author-link2 = Luke Harding |date = 7 April 2016 |title = Putin dismisses Panama Papers as an attempt to destabilise Russia |url = http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/07/putin-dismisses-panama-papers-as-an-attempt-to-destabilise-russia |access-date = 18 September 2022 |website = The Guardian }}</ref> However, various media have reported on three of Putin's associates on the list.<ref name="hardingrevealed">{{cite news|last=Harding|first=Luke|title = Revealed: the $2bn offshore trail that leads to Vladimir Putin |url = https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/03/panama-papers-money-hidden-offshore |newspaper = The Guardian |location = London |date = 3 April 2016}}</ref> According to the Panama Papers leak, close trusted associates of Putin own offshore companies worth US$2 billion in total.<ref>[http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/articles/56fe71aaa1bb8d3c3495ac71/ Der Zirkel der Macht von Vladimir Putin], Süddeutsche Zeitung</ref> ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' regards the possibility of Putin's family profiting from this money as plausible.<ref>[http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/articles/56eff9f22f17ab0f205e636a/ Wladimir Putin und seine Freunde], Süddeutsche Zeitung</ref><ref name="hardingrevealed" />

According to the paper, the US$2 billion had been "secretly shuffled through banks and shadow companies linked to Putin's associates", such as construction billionaires Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, and Bank Rossiya, previously identified by the U.S. State Department as being treated by Putin as his personal bank account, had been central in facilitating this. It concludes that "Putin has shown he is willing to take aggressive steps to maintain secrecy and protect [such] communal assets".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-putin-russia-offshore-network.html |title = All Putin's Men: Secret Records Reveal Money Network Tied to Russian Leader |website = panamapapers.icij.org |date = 3 April 2016 |access-date = 4 April 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35918845 |title = Panama Papers: Putin associates linked to 'money laundering' |work =BBC News |date = 3 April 2016 |access-date = 4 April 2016 }}</ref>

A significant proportion of the money trail leads to Putin's best friend Sergei Roldugin. Although a musician, and in his own words, not a businessman, it appears he has accumulated assets valued at $100m, and possibly more. It has been suggested he was picked for the role because of his low profile.<ref name="hardingrevealed" /> There have been speculations that Putin, in fact, owns the funds,<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.vox.com/2016/4/4/11360212/panama-papers-russia-putin |title = The Panama Papers show how corruption really works in Russia |last = Galeotti |first = Mark |date = 4 April 2016 |publisher = Vox Business and Finance |access-date = 8 April 2016 }}</ref> and Roldugin just acted as a proxy.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Harding |first = Luke |date = 3 April 2016 |title = Sergei Roldugin, the cellist who holds the key to tracing Putin's hidden fortune |language = en-GB |work =The Guardian |url = https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/03/sergei-roldugin-the-cellist-who-holds-the-key-to-tracing-putins-hidden-fortune |access-date = 16 October 2020 |issn = 0261-3077 }}</ref> Garry Kasparov said that "[Putin] controls enough money, probably more than any other individual in the history of human race".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last = Kasparov |first = Garry |title = Starr Forum: The Trump-Putin Phenomenon |url = https://cis.mit.edu/events/transcripts/starr-forum-trump-putin-phenomenon |website = MIT Center for International Studies |access-date = 8 March 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250401161517/https://cis.mit.edu/events/transcripts/starr-forum-trump-putin-phenomenon |archive-date=1 April 2025 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Residences === ==== Official government residences ==== [[File:Barack Obama and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.jpg|thumb|Putin receives Barack Obama at his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo in 2009.]]

As president and prime minister, Putin has lived in numerous official residences throughout the country.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/leaders-not-swapping-residences-13069 |title = Russian Leaders Not Swapping Residences |date = 5 March 2012 |first1 = Olga |last1 = Solovyova |website = The Moscow Times |access-date = 22 March 2017 }}</ref> These residences include: the Moscow Kremlin, Novo-Ogaryovo in Moscow Oblast, Gorki-9 near Moscow, Bocharov Ruchey in Sochi, Dolgiye Borody in Novgorod Oblast, and Riviera in Sochi.<ref name="residences">{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1576415 |title = Тайна за семью заборами |date = 31 January 2011 |publisher = Kommersant.ru |access-date = 22 June 2013 }}</ref> In August 2012, critics of Putin listed the ownership of 20 villas and palaces, nine of which were built during Putin's 12 years in power.<ref name="Slave">{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Elder |first = Miriam |title = Vladimir Putin 'Galley Slave' Lifestyle: Palaces, Planes and a $75,000 Toilet |url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/aug/28/vladimir-putin-palaces-planes-toilet |work =The Guardian |location = London |date = 28 August 2012 |access-date = 28 August 2012 }}</ref>

==== Personal residences ==== Soon after Putin returned from his KGB service in Dresden, East Germany, he built a dacha in Solovyovka on the eastern shore of Lake Komsomolskoye on the Karelian Isthmus in Priozersky District of Leningrad Oblast, near St. Petersburg. After the dacha burned down in 1996, Putin built a new one identical to the original and was joined by a group of seven friends who built dachas nearby. In 1996, the group formally registered their fraternity as a co-operative society, calling it Ozero ("Lake") and turning it into a gated community.<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/02/how-the-1980s-explains-vladimir-putin/273135/# How the 1980s Explains Vladimir Putin. ''The Ozero group.''] By Fiona Hill & Clifford G. Gaddy, ''The Atlantic'', 14 February 2013.</ref>

A massive Italianate-style mansion costing an alleged US$1 billion<ref name="'Putin palace' sold">{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8359527/Putin-palace-sells-for-350-million.html |archive-url = https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8359527/Putin-palace-sells-for-350-million.html |archive-date = 10 January 2022 |url-access = subscription |url-status = live |title = 'Putin Palace' Sells for US$350 Million |work = The Daily Telegraph |date = 3 March 2011 |access-date = 5 May 2012 |location = London |first = Our |last = Foreign }}{{cbignore}}</ref> and dubbed "Putin's Palace" is under construction near the Black Sea village of Praskoveevka.{{when|date=March 2025}} In 2012, Sergei Kolesnikov, a former business associate of Putin's, told the BBC's ''Newsnight'' programme that he had been ordered by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin to oversee the building of the palace.<ref name="Putin's palace">{{#invoke:cite|news|date = 4 May 2012 |title = Putin's Palace? A Mystery Black Sea Mansion Fit for a Tsar |publisher = BBC |url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17730959 |access-date = 4 May 2012 }}</ref> He also said that the mansion, built on government land and sporting three helipads, plus a private road paid for from state funds and guarded by officials wearing uniforms of the official Kremlin guard service, have been built for Putin's private use.<ref name="IBP-2014">{{Cite book |title=Russia: Russia president Vladimir Putin rule: achievements, problems and future strategies |date=2014 |publisher=International Business Publications |isbn=978-1-4330-6774-7 |location=Washington, DC |page=85 |oclc=956347599}}</ref>

On 19 January 2021, two days after Alexei Navalny was detained by Russian authorities upon his return to Russia, a video investigation by him and the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) was published, accusing Putin of using fraudulently obtained funds to build the estate for himself in what he called "the world's biggest bribe". In the investigation, Navalny said that the estate is 39 times the size of Monaco and costs over 100 billion rubles ($1.35 billion) to construct. It also showed aerial footage of the estate via a drone and a detailed floorplan of the palace that Navalny said was given by a contractor, which he compared to photographs from inside the palace that were leaked onto the Internet in 2011. He also detailed an elaborate corruption scheme allegedly involving Putin's inner circle that allowed Putin to hide billions of dollars to build the estate.<ref name="tmt-putin's-palace">{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/01/19/navalny-targets-billion-dollar-putin-palace-in-investigation-released-after-jailing-a72661 |title = Navalny Targets 'Billion-Dollar Putin Palace' in New Investigation |website = Moscow Times |date = 19 January 2021 |access-date = 19 January 2021 |archive-date = 19 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210119160300/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/01/19/navalny-targets-billion-dollar-putin-palace-in-investigation-released-after-jailing-a72661 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://meduza.io/feature/2021/01/19/fbk-opublikoval-ogromnoe-rassledovanie-o-dvortse-putina-v-gelendzhike-vot-glavnoe-iz-dvuhchasovogo-filma-o-stroitelstve-tsenoy-v-100-milliardov |title = ФБК опубликовал огромное расследование о 'дворце Путина' в Геленджике. Вот главное из двухчасового фильма о строительстве ценой в 100 миллиардов |website = Meduza.io |date = 19 January 2021 |access-date = 19 January 2021 |archive-date = 19 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210119162405/https://meduza.io/feature/2021/01/19/fbk-opublikoval-ogromnoe-rassledovanie-o-dvortse-putina-v-gelendzhike-vot-glavnoe-iz-dvuhchasovogo-filma-o-stroitelstve-tsenoy-v-100-milliardov |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://tvrain.ru/news/fbk_opublikoval_rassledovanie_o_dvortse_putina_razmerom_s_39_knjazhestv_monako-522873/ |title = ФБК опубликовал расследование о 'дворце Путина' размером с 39 княжеств Монако |website = tvrain.ru |date = 19 January 2021 |access-date = 19 January 2021 |archive-date = 19 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210119222256/https://tvrain.ru/news/fbk_opublikoval_rassledovanie_o_dvortse_putina_razmerom_s_39_knjazhestv_monako-522873/ |url-status = live }}</ref> Since the prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Putin prefers to travel in an armored train to flying.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date = 13 February 2023 |title = That extra-heavy load Instead of flying, Vladimir Putin prefers to travel around Russia by armored train (allegedly for fear of Ukrainian attack) |url = https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/02/13/that-extra-heavy-load |access-date = 17 February 2023 |website = Meduza |language = en }}</ref>

=== Pets === {{Main|Pets of Vladimir Putin}}

[[File:Vladimir Putin and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow (2017-10-11) 05.jpg|thumb|left|Putin's pet, named Verni, was a birthday gift from Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, president of Turkmenistan, during a meeting in Sochi in October 2017.]]

Putin has received five dogs from various national leaders: Konni, Buffy, Yume, Verni and Pasha. Konni died in 2014. When Putin first became president, the family had two poodles, Tosya and Rodeo. They reportedly stayed with his ex-wife Lyudmila after their divorce.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://aif.ru/dontknows/file/skolko_sobak_u_putina |title = Сколько собак у Путина? |date = 23 October 2017 |website = aif.ru |language = ru |trans-title = How many dogs does Putin have? |access-date = 9 October 2021 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171023134519/https://aif.ru/dontknows/file/skolko_sobak_u_putina |archive-date = 23 October 2017 }}</ref>

=== Religion === [[File:Vladimir Putin in the United States 13-16 November 2001-55.jpg|thumb|Putin and wife Lyudmila in New York at a service for victims of the September 11 attacks, 16 November 2001]]

Putin is Russian Orthodox. His mother was a devout Christian who attended the Russian Orthodox Church; his father was an atheist.<ref name="Colton">{{cite book |author1-link=Timothy Colton |title=Popular Choice and Managed Democracy: the Russian elections of 1999 and 2000 |url=https://archive.org/details/popularchoiceman00colt |url-access=registration |author1=Timothy J. Colton |author2=Michael MacFaul |year=2003 |publisher=The Brookings Institution |location=Washington, DC |isbn=978-0-8157-1535-1 |page={{page needed |date=February 2022}}}}</ref> Although his mother kept no icons at home, she attended church regularly, despite government persecution of her faith at that time. His mother secretly baptized him as a baby, and she regularly took him to services.<ref name=sakwa_p3 />

According to Putin, his religious awakening began after a serious car crash involving his wife in 1993, and a life-threatening fire that burned down their dacha in August 1996.<ref name=Colton /> Shortly before an official visit to Israel, Putin's mother gave him his baptismal cross, telling him to get it blessed. Putin has stated, "I did as she said and then put the cross around my neck. I have never taken it off since".<ref name=sakwa_p3 />

When asked in 2007 whether he believes in God, he replied, "There are things I believe, which should not in my position, at least, be shared with the public at large for everybody's consumption because that would look like self-advertising or a political striptease".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071221190115/http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/article/0,28804,1690753_1690757_1695787-3,00.html Putin Q&A: Full Transcript] ''Time''. Retrieved 22 March 2008.</ref> Putin's rumoured confessor is Russian Orthodox bishop Tikhon Shevkunov.<ref name="FT">{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Putin and the monk |url = https://www.ft.com/content/f2fcba3e-65be-11e2-a3db-00144feab49a |archive-url = https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/f2fcba3e-65be-11e2-a3db-00144feab49a.html |archive-date = 10 December 2022 |url-access = subscription |work = FT Magazine |date = 25 January 2013 }}</ref> The sincerity of his Christianity has been rejected by his former advisor Sergei Pugachev.<ref name="veconomist">{{#invoke:cite|news|title = The enduring grip of the men{{snd}}and mindset{{snd}}of the KGB |url = https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2020/04/25/the-enduring-grip-of-the-men-and-mindset-of-the-kgb |newspaper = The Economist |date = 25 April 2020 }}</ref>

=== Sports === thumb|Putin practicing judo in Tokyo, Japan, in September 2000

Putin watches football and supports FC Zenit Saint Petersburg.<ref name="Putin to talk pipeline, attend football game">{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Putin to talk pipeline, attend football game |url = http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=03&dd=22&nav_id=73361 |website = B92 |date = 22 March 2011 |access-date = 22 March 2011 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110326175209/http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=03&dd=22&nav_id=73361 |archive-date = 26 March 2011 }}</ref> He also displays an interest in ice hockey and bandy,<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.thelocal.se/20160229/bandy-how-swedens-little-known-sport-is-winning-converts |title = Bandy, how little known sport is winning converts |work = The Local |date = 29 February 2016 |access-date = 9 October 2017 }}</ref> and played in a star-studded hockey game on his 63rd birthday.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-sports/vladimir-putin-scores-seven-goals-in-epic-hockey-game-57500/ |title=Vladimir Putin Scores Seven Goals in Epic Hockey Game |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=9 October 2015 |access-date=7 February 2022}}</ref>

Putin has been practicing judo since he was 11,<ref name="kremlinbiosports">{{#invoke:cite|web|title = Kremlin Biography of President Vladimir Putin |url = http://eng.putin.kremlin.ru/interests |access-date = 23 May 2017 |website = putin.kremlin.ru }}</ref> before switching to sambo at the age of fourteen.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date = 15 November 2001 |title = NPR News: Vladimir Putin: Transcript of Robert Siegel Interview |url = https://legacy.npr.org/news/specials/putin/nprinterview.html |access-date = 19 October 2020 |website = legacy.npr.org }}</ref> He won competitions in both sports in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). He was awarded eighth dan of the black belt in 2012, becoming the first Russian to achieve the status.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|date = 10 October 2012 |title = Putin awarded eighth dan by international body |work = Reuters |url = https://www.reuters.com/article/us-judo-russia-putin-idUSBRE8991F120121010 |access-date = 19 October 2020 }}</ref> He was rewarded an eighth-degree karate black belt in 2014.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|date=21 November 2014|title=Putin becomes eighth-degree karate black belt|url=https://www.cnn.com/2014/11/21/world/europe/putin-karate-black-belt/index.html|work=CNN}}</ref>

He co-authored a book titled ''Learn Judo with Vladimir Putin'' in Russian (2000),{{Efn|{{langx|ru|link=no|Учимся дзюдо с Владимиром Путиным}}}} and ''Judo: History, Theory, Practice'' in English (2004).<ref name="putin-judo">{{cite book |last=Putin |first=Vladimir |author2=Vasily Shestakov |author3=Alexey Levitsky |date=2004 |title=Judo: History, Theory, Practice |publisher=Blue Snake Books |isbn=978-1-55643-445-7}}{{page needed|date=February 2022}}</ref> Benjamin Wittes, a black belt in taekwondo and aikido and editor of ''Lawfare'', has disputed Putin's martial arts skills, stating that there is no video evidence of Putin displaying any real noteworthy judo skills.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Hawkins |first = Derek |date = 18 July 2017 |title = Is Vladimir Putin a judo fraud? |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/07/18/is-vladimir-putin-a-judo-fraud/ |access-date = 18 July 2017 |newspaper = The Washington Post }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.lawfaremedia.org/ill-fight-putin-any-time-any-place-he-cant-have-me-arrested |title = I'll Fight Putin Any Time, Any Place He Can't Have Me Arrested|last=Wittes|first=Benjamin|date = 21 October 2015 |work = Lawfare |access-date = 18 July 2017 }}</ref>

In March 2022, Putin was removed from all positions in the International Judo Federation (IJF) due to the Russo-Ukrainian war.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title = International Judo Federation strips titles from Vladimir Putin and Russian oligarch |url = https://www.cbsnews.com/news/international-judo-federation-strips-titles-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-invasion/ |date = 7 March 2022 |publisher = CBS News |language = en-US |access-date=16 March 2023}}</ref>

=== Health === {{See also|Claims of Vladimir Putin's incapacity and death}}

In July 2022, the director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, William Burns, stated they had no evidence to suggest Putin was unstable or in bad health. The statement was made because of increasing unconfirmed media speculation about Putin's health. Burns had previously been U.S. ambassador to Russia, and had personally observed Putin for over two decades, including a personal meeting in November 2021. A Kremlin spokesperson also dismissed rumours of Putin's bad health.<ref name=bbc-20220721>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62246914 |title = Ukraine war: CIA chief says no intelligence that Putin is in bad health |last1 = Corera |first1 = Gordon |last2 = Wright |first2 = George |work =BBC News |date = 21 July 2022 |access-date = 22 July 2022 }}</ref>

The Russian political magazine ''Sobesednik'' ({{langx|ru|Собеседник|italic=yes}}) alleged in 2018 that Putin had a sensory room installed in his private residence in the Novgorod Oblast.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Putin has a special 'sensory room' at his presidential residence to relax and stave off depression |url = https://meduza.io/en/shapito/2018/09/06/putin-has-a-special-sensory-room-at-his-presidential-residence-to-relax-and-stave-off-depression |access-date = 1 May 2022 |work = Meduza |date = 6 September 2018 }}</ref> The White House, as well as Western generals, politicians, and political analysts, have questioned Putin's mental health after two years of isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = White House, senators and generals question Putin's mental health after two years of pandemic isolation |url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/russia-ukraine-putin-mental-health-b2024503.html |work = The Independent |date = 28 February 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Putin's obsession with Ukraine has made analysts question his rationality |url = https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/02/putins-obsession-with-ukraine-has-made-analysts-question-his-rationality.html |publisher = CNBC |date = 28 February 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Putin's War Looks Increasingly Insane |url = https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/03/putins-war-looks-increasingly-insane.html |work = New York |date = 4 March 2022 }}</ref>

In April 2022, London tabloid newspaper ''The Sun'' asserted that based on video footage Putin may have Parkinson's disease.<ref name="DW">{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Kremlin slams reports of Putin resignation as 'complete nonsense' |url = https://www.dw.com/en/kremlin-slams-reports-of-putin-resignation-as-complete-nonsense/a-55520403 |access-date = 1 May 2022 |work = Deutsche Welle |date = 6 November 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last1 = Sabin |first1 = Lamiat |title = Video of Vladimir Putin gripping table in meeting sparks concerns about his health |url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vladimir-putin-health-holding-table-russia-b2063102.html |access-date = 1 May 2022 |work = The Independent |date = 22 April 2022 }}</ref><ref name="Roth">{{#invoke:cite|news|last1 = Roth |first1 = Clare |title = Putin and Parkinson's: What do experts say? |url = https://www.dw.com/en/putin-and-parkinsons-what-do-experts-say/a-61597476 |access-date = 1 May 2022 |work = Deutsche Welle |date = 28 March 2022 }}</ref> This speculation, which has not been supported by medical professionals, has spread in part due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which many saw as an irrational act.<ref name="Roth" /> The Kremlin<ref name="DW" /> rejected the possibility of Parkinson's along with outside medical professionals, who stress that it is impossible to diagnose the condition based on video clips alone.<ref name="Roth" />

== Awards and honours == {{Main|List of awards and honours received by Vladimir Putin}}

At least fifteen countries have awarded Vladimir Putin civilian honors since 2001. Putin has been awarded honorary doctorates and other awards from organizations across the world, but some of these were revoked after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.<ref>{{cite news |title=Vladimir Putin is being stripped of his honorary sporting titles amid Ukraine invasion |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/01/sport/vladimir-putin-ukraine-sporting-titles-spt-intl/index.html |publisher=CNN |date=1 March 2022}}</ref>

== Explanatory notes == {{Notelist|30em}}

== References == {{reflist|30em}}

=== Sources === {{See also|Bibliography of the post-Stalinist Soviet Union}} * ''Vladimir Putin and Russian Statecraft'' by Allen C. Lynch. Potamac Books. 1 September 2011. * ''Russia Under Putin: Russia Under Putin: Fragile State and Revisionist Power'' by Andrew S. Natsios. Johns Hopkins University Press. 8 July 2025 * ''Putin's Russia: The Definitive Account of Putin's Rise to Power'' by Anna Politkovskaya. Harvill Press. 1 January 2004 * {{cite book |last=Sakwa |first=Richard |title=Putin: Russia's choice |date=2008 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-203-93193-6 |location=London; New York |oclc=183404357}}

== External links == {{external media|float=right|video1=[https://www.c-span.org/video/?304877-1/the-man-face-rise-vladimir-putin Presentation by Masha Gessen on ''The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin''], 8 March 2012, C-SPAN}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20250729171810/http://en.putin.kremlin.ru/bio/page-0 Official Personal Website] via Kremlin.ru * {{C-SPAN|80574}}

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