Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin 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 and again from 2008 to 2012. He has been described as the de facto leader of Russia since 2000.

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the existing war between the two countries that began when Russia attacked Ukraine in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thousands of military casualties and tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian casualties. As of April 2026, Russian troops occupy roughly 20% of Ukraine. From a population of 41 million, about 8 million Ukrainians have been internally displaced and 6–7 million have fled the country, creating Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II.

The Russo-Ukrainian war began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia occupied Crimea and annexed it from Ukraine. It then supported Russian separatist armed groups who started a war in the eastern Donbas region against Ukraine's military. In 2018, Ukraine declared the region to be occupied by Russia. The first eight years of conflict also involved naval incidents and cyberwarfare. In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and began occupying more of the country, starting the current phase of the war, the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. The war has resulted in a refugee crisis and hundreds of thousands of deaths.

2008 Russian invasion of Georgia

Russian preparation for the invasion since March 2021

thumb|300px|Vladimir Putin at the party congress of [[United Russia in 2011]]

armistice agreement ending the Nagorno-Karabakh war

ongoing COVID-19 viral pandemic in Russia

series of explosions

palace in Russia, believed to be built for Vladimir Putin

2018 attempted murder in Salisbury, England, United Kingdom

meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska on 15 August 2025

2010 nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation

foreign meddling campaign

setting up the quadripartite negotiations on the civil war in Ukraine, from 2014 to 2022

2022 Russia–Ukraine agreement on grain export

vote on amendments to the Constitution of Russia

partial mobilization of military reservists declared by Russia on September 21, 2022 for the invasion of Ukraine

exchange of prisoners between Western states and Russia in August 2024

3 May 2023 event in Moscow, Russia

accidental wrecking of a Russian nuclear submarine in 2000

Kremlin-linked Russian think-tank and annual discussion forum

a period of devaluation of the Russian ruble, linked to the Crimean conflict.

disputes between Naftogaz Ukrayiny and Gazprom

arrest warrant issued in 2023 by International Criminal Court

international relations conference

political coalition in Russia started in 2011 by then-Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin to provide United Russia with "new ideas, new suggestions and new faces"

mountain in Kyrgyzstan

meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on 16 July 2018

2002 nuclear disarmament treaty between the U.S. and Russia

Meeting between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin in Geneva on 16 June 2021

interview from February 2024

social distancing furniture

conference

United States investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections

aviation incident in the Black Sea on March 14, 2023, in which a Russian fighter jet intercepted and likely brought down an American drone

bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church and writer (born 1958)

political rally

Cabinet of Russia

fossil fuel financing-related conflicts

international crisis

overview of the presidency of Vladimir Putin (1999–2008, - 2012–Present)

covert meeting of North Korea's Kim Jong-un and Russia's Vladimir Putin

Political philosophy in Russia

Russian espionage program

televised political event in Russia

house and estate on Lodochny Island, Russia

Image of Putin among Russians and worldwide

2001 Russia–United States meeting

meeting of Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin at Vostochny Cosmodrome

Russian eschatological and political concept that Russia must build up its nuclear arsenal to prepare for the Second Coming

thumb | right Ozero (, lake) (full name: дачный потребительский кооператив «Озеро», Dacha consumer cooperative "Ozero") is a dacha cooperative in northwest Russia associated with Vladimir Putin's inner circle.

thumb|Belarusian Honor Guard carrying the national flags of Belarus and the Soviet Union, as well as the Soviet victory banner, in Minsk, 2019.

Cabinet of Russia

meeting between George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin

foreign policy of Putin administration

street in Grozny, Russia

inauguration in 2000

bilateral summit in Pyongyang, North Korea, in June 2024 between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un