President Boris Yeltsin appointed Putin as PM on Dec. 31, 1999. Within a year, Yeltsin resigned, and Putin assumed the presidency
After winning the election with about 53% of the vote, Putin was elected for his first four-year term on May 7, 2000
Oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the potential challenger to Putin, was arrested and later sentenced to 10 years in prison for tax evasion and fraud on Oct. 25, 2003
Putin was elected for a second presidential term on March 14, 2004. Later on May 8, 2008, he was appointed as PM by President Dmitry Medvedev
From Aug. 8-12, 2008, Russia fought a short war with Georgia, gaining full control of the separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions
Putin was elected as a new president on March 4, 2012, which was six years long under constitutional changes he engineered
Fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatist rebels began in eastern Ukraine in April 2014
On September 30, 2015, Russia began airstrikes in Syria, which helped Syrian President Bashar Assad, a longtime ally, remain in power
His fourth Presidential run began on May 7, 2018, with winning more than 76 per cent of the vote
He opened the 18-kilometer (12-mile) bridge from Russia to Crimea on May 15, 2018, solidifying Moscow’s annexation
On July 16, 2018, Putin and President Donald Trump meet at a summit in Helsinki, where Trump was asked about allegations that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election
A referendum approved constitutional changes proposed by Putin on July 1, 2020, which allowed him to run for two more terms starting in 2024
On Feb. 24, 2022, the invasion of Ukraine began, which Putin characterises as a “special military operation” needed for Russia’s security
Putin won his 5th term by 87% of the vote on March 17, 2024. And, Finally, he begins his fifth term in office on May 7, 2024
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