Russian Politics: Review of Vladimir Putin's political career

World
Europe

02:27

The 65-year-old Vladimir Putin has acted decisively, and some say divisively, since taking power 18 years ago. On the international stage, he has dealt with three US presidents, and thrust Moscow into a new rivalry with the West by pulling Crimea out of Ukraine and supporting Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Vladimir Putin's political star started to shine in 1999, when the first Russian President Boris Yeltsin propelled the then-FSB chief to become his prime minister. Then, on New Year's Eve, after Yeltsin's sensational resignation, Putin began to take control of the biggest country on Earth.

Putin formally succeeded Yeltsin as president in the March 2000 election and won a second term four years later.

The eight years of his tenure was marked by a Chechen insurgency. From 2000 to 2009, the conflict in Chechnya left tens of millions dead. Putin tightened its grip on Chechnya and expanded its anti-terrorist operations throughout the region. In April 2009, Russia ended its counter-terrorism operation and pulled out the bulk of its army from the region.

In 2008, Dmitry Medvedev, seen as Putin's young ally, was elected president. Putin became prime minister and took the reins of the ruling United Russia party, which controls parliament.

In 2012, he returned as president for a six-year term, thanks to a constitutional amendment.

In 2014, after the Ukrainian revolution and flight of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Russia vowed to start working on taking back Crimea.

Putin signed a treaty of accession with the self-declared Republic of Crimea, annexing it into the Russian Federation as two federal subjects: the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol.

This move brought relations with the West to their lowest levels since the Cold War. Western powers accused Moscow of also militarily supporting a separatist struggle in eastern Ukraine.

In 2015, Russia again enraged the US and its Western allies by intervening and helping the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to get the better of the rebels. With Putin's support, the Syria army is fighting the militant groups, including ISIL, all throughout the country.