Everything You Need to Know About Vladimir Putin

News24xx.com -  One of the most influential figures in modern history, his career skyrocketed from foreign intelligence officers in the KGB to become president of Russia.

Vladimir Putin was born in 1952 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). Before a career in politics, he spent his youth working as a Soviet foreign intelligence. At the beginning of the '90s, he served as deputy mayor of St. Petersburg who was responsible for foreign affairs. 

Then in the late 1990s, he was appointed head of the Russian Security Service (FSB), and finally became prime minister in 1999 and president in early 2000. Look at the change in the face of Vladimir Putin since he first served as prime minister in 1998 (apparently not changed much).

Vladimir Putin is Russia's second and fourth president. His leadership in the presidency began in March 2000 and lasted eight years, (the Russian constitution limits the term of office of the president for two consecutive periods). 

In 2011, the presidential term was extended from four years to six years. Putin returned to the presidency in 2012 and is still serving until now. He has the right to serve for another period.

The next presidential election will take place on March 18, 2018, and the main question is, "who will be the next Russian president?"

To be sure, another name in the spotlight is Alexei Navalny, a leader of the opposition movement that is quite vocal. Apart from what Western journalists write, Navalny has little chance of winning the election. Vladimir Putin joined the KGB (Committee for State Security) in 1975, and was trained in Leningrad as a counterintelligence agent.

Putin's nickname at the spy school was Platov
Starting in 1985, he worked in Dresden as a KGB agent. He also witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. When the East German regime collapsed and announced reunification with West Germany in 1990, the KGB's work in Germany was automatically over.