OCTOBER 7, 1952

Vladimir Putin is born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg).

Putin worked as a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years, rising to lieutenant colonel, before resigning in 1991 to begin a political career in St Petersburg.

He later moved to Moscow in 1996 to join the administration of president Boris Yeltsin, and was appointed prime minister in August 1999 and later president.

In April 2021, following a referendum, he signed into law constitutional amendments including one that would allow him to run for re-election twice more, potentially extending his presidency to 2036.