Vladimir Putin

Russia's dominant leader since 2000, Putin launched the full-scale Ukraine invasion in February 2022 — a decision that reshaped European security, triggered the fastest NATO expansion in decades, and isolated Russia economically. His relationship with Trump's second administration is the central variable in the war's diplomatic endgame.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born on October 7, 1952, in Leningrad (now St Petersburg). A KGB intelligence officer for 16 years, he entered politics under Boris Yeltsin, becoming Prime Minister in 1999 and President in 2000. He served two presidential terms, stepped aside for Medvedev (2008–2012), then returned. His 2022 Ukraine invasion broke the post-Cold War European security order. In 2024 he was 'reelected' in a vote considered neither free nor fair by international observers.