Vladimir Putin Trivia | 80 facts about the president of Russia

Vladimir Putin is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who is the president of Russia. He recently made headlines for his decision to invade Ukraine.

So let’s find out some trivia and facts about the president of Russia who currently invaded Ukraine.

1. His full name is Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
2. He was born on October 7, 1952
3. He is a Russian politician
4. A former intelligence officer
5. And the president of Russia
6. A position he has filled since 2012, and previously from 1999 until 2008
7. He was also the prime minister from 1999 to 2000
8. And again from 2008 to 2012
9. Putin is the second-longest current serving European president after Alexander Lukashenko of neighbouring Belarus
10. Putin was born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg)
11. He studied law at Leningrad State University
12. He gratuated in 1975
13. He worked as a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years
14. Rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel
15. He resigned in 1991 to begin a political career in Saint Petersburg
16. He moved to Moscow in 1996 to join the administration of president Boris Yeltsin
17. He briefly served as director of the Federal Security Service (FSB)
18. And secretary of the Security Council, before being appointed as prime minister in August 1999
19. After the resignation of Yeltsin, Putin became acting president
20. Less than four months later was elected outright to his first term as president
21. He was reelected in 2004
22. As he was then constitutionally limited to two consecutive terms as president
23. Putin served as prime minister again from 2008 to 2012 under Dmitry Medvedev
24. He returned to the presidency in 2012 in an election marred by allegations of fraud and protests
25. He was reelected again in 2018
26. In April 2021, following a referendum, he signed into law constitutional amendments including one that would allow him to run for reelection twice more
27. Thus, potentially extending his presidency to 2036
28. During Putin’s first tenure as president, the Russian economy grew for eight consecutive years
29. With GDP measured by purchasing power increasing by 72%
30. Russian self-assessed life satisfaction rose significantly
31. The growth was a result of a fivefold increase in the price of oil and gas, which constitute the majority of Russian exports, recovery from the post-communist depression and financial crises, a rise in foreign investment, and prudent economic and fiscal policies
32. Putin also led Russia to victory in the Second Chechen War
33. Serving as prime minister under Medvedev, he oversaw large-scale military reform and police reform, as well as Russia’s victory in the Russo-Georgian War
34. During his third term as president, falling oil prices coupled with international sanctions imposed at the beginning of 2014
35. This was after Russia launched a military intervention in Ukraine and annexed Crimea
36. This led to GDP shrinking by 3.7% in 2015
37. Though the Russian economy rebounded in 2016 with 0.3% GDP growth
38. During his fourth term as president, the COVID-19 pandemic hit Russia, and Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022
39. The latter decision lead to further sanctions being imposed against Russia and him personally
40. Other developments under Putin have included the construction of oil and gas pipelines, the restoration of the satellite navigation system GLONASS, and the building of infrastructure for international events such as the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the 2018 FIFA World Cup
41. Under Putin’s leadership, Russia has shifted to authoritarianism
42. Experts do not consider Russia a democracy, citing the jailing and repression of political opponents, the intimidation and suppression of the free press and the lack of free and fair elections
43. Russia has scored poorly on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, and Freedom House’s Freedom in the World index
44. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born on 7 October 1952 in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg, Russia)
45. He is the youngest of three children of Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin (1911–1999) and Maria Ivanovna Putina (1911–1998)
46. Spiridon Putin, Vladimir Putin’s grandfather, was a personal cook to Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin
47. Putin’s birth was preceded by the deaths of two brothers, Viktor and Albert, born in the mid-1930s
48. Albert died in infancy and Viktor died of diphtheria during the Siege of Leningrad by Nazi Germany’s forces in World War II
49. 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
50. Early in World War II, his father served in the destruction battalion of the NKVD
51. Later, he was transferred to the regular army and was severely wounded in 1942
52. Putin’s maternal grandmother was killed by the German occupiers of Tver region in 1941
53. And his maternal uncles disappeared on the Eastern Front during World War II
54. On 1 September 1960, Putin started at School No. 193 at Baskov Lane, near his home
55. He was one of a few in the class of approximately 45 pupils who were not yet members of the Young Pioneer organization
56. At age 12, he began to practise sambo and judo
57. In his free time he enjoyed reading on Marx, Engels and Lenin
58. Putin studied German at Saint Petersburg High School 281 and speaks German as a second language
59. Putin studied law at the Leningrad State University named after Andrei Zhdanov (now Saint Petersburg State University) in 1970 and graduated in 1975
60. His thesis was on “The Most Favored Nation Trading Principle in International Law”
61. While there, he was required to join the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and remained a member until it ceased to exist (it was outlawed in August 1991)
62. Putin met Anatoly Sobchak, an assistant professor who taught business law, and who later became the co-author of the Russian constitution and of the corruption schemes persecuted in France
63. Putin would be influential in Sobchak’s career in Saint Petersburg. Sobchak would be influential in Putin’s career in Moscow
64. On 28 July 1983, Putin married Lyudmila Shkrebneva
65. They lived together in East Germany from 1985 to 1990
66. They have two daughters, Mariya Putina, born 28 April 1985 in Leningrad, and Yekaterina Putina, born 31 August 1986 in Dresden, East Germany
67. An investigation by Proekt Media published in November 2020 alleged that Putin has another daughter, Elizaveta (known as Luiza Rozova), born March 2003, with Svetlana Krivonogikh
68. 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
69. The story was denied[2] and the newspaper was shut down shortly thereafter
70. Putin and Lyudmila continued to make public appearances together as spouses, while the status of his relationship with Kabaeva became a topic of speculation
71. In the subsequent years, there were frequent unsubstantiated reports that Putin and Kabaeva had multiple children together, although these reports were denied
72. On 6 June 2013, Putin and Lyudmila announced that their marriage was over
73. On 1 April 2014, the Kremlin confirmed that the divorce had been finalised
74. In 2015, Kabaeva reportedly gave birth to a daughter; Putin is alleged to be the father
75. In 2019, Kabaeva reportedly gave birth to twin sons by Putin
76. Putin has two grandsons, born in 2012 and 2017
77. His cousin, Igor Putin, was a director at Moscow-based Master Bank
78. He was accused in a number of money laundering scandals
79. Official figures released during the legislative election of 2007 put Putin’s wealth at approximately 3.7 million rubles (US$150,000) in bank accounts, a private 77.4-square-meter (833 sq ft) apartment in Saint Petersburg, and miscellaneous other assets
80. In 2012, Putin reported an income of 3.6 million rubles ($113,000)