50 Fun Facts About Vladimir Putin

Before entering politics, Putin spent 16 years as an officer in which organisation?

He rose to lieutenant colonel and says he resigned on the second day of the August 1991 coup attempt.

Putin was born in 1952 in which city, then called Leningrad?

The city reverted to its old name in 1991, the year he left the KGB.

Putin's grandfather Spiridon worked as a personal cook to which two Soviet leaders?

Two of Putin's older brothers died before he was born, one during the wartime siege of the city.

Putin's brother Viktor died in 1942 during which wartime event?

Viktor died of diphtheria and starvation; Putin's father was severely wounded the same year.

Putin's high school ran an immersion programme in which language, in which he remains fluent?

He has given speeches and interviews in that language, and later served the KGB in East Germany.

Putin's 1975 university degree was in which subject?

His thesis was on the most-favoured-nation trading principle in international law.

Which business-law professor did Putin meet at university, later his patron as the city's mayor?

Sobchak co-authored the Russian constitution; his 1996 election defeat sent Putin to Moscow.

Putin's 1997 economics thesis was on what topic?

Two scholars have called him a plagiarist by Western standards for copying paragraphs from a 1978 management textbook.

From 1985 to 1990 Putin was posted for the KGB to which city in the GDR?

His cover was as a translator; biographer Masha Gessen says his work was mostly collecting press clippings.

While posted in the GDR, Putin acted as a KGB liaison to which secret police?

The GDR regime gave him a bronze medal for "faithful service to the National People's Army."

Per his official biography, what did Putin do with the KGB files as the Berlin Wall fell?

He said many documents survived only because the furnace burst.

On what date does Putin say he resigned from the KGB?

He said he immediately decided which side he was on, though the choice was hard after so long in "the organs."

Putin's first political job in 1990 was as an adviser on international affairs to whom?

By June 1991 he headed the Committee for External Relations of the mayor's office.

Which president appointed Putin director of the FSB in 1998?

Yeltsin then made him prime minister in August 1999 and endorsed him as his successor.

Putin became acting prime minister in August 1999 after the dismissal of whose cabinet?

He was one of three First Deputy Prime Ministers before the promotion.

Putin was inaugurated as president for the first time on which date?

He had won the March election after serving as acting president following Yeltsin's resignation.

Who did Putin describe in 1999 as the frontrunner he overtook, calling communism "a blind alley"?

The Communist leader had led polls for the 2000 race until autumn 1999.

Barred from a third straight term, Putin was prime minister from 2008 to 2012 under which president?

The arrangement was nicknamed the tandem; he returned to the presidency in 2012.

During Putin's first two terms the Russian economy grew on average by what percentage per year?

Reforms helped, but so did a fivefold rise in the price of oil and gas.

Which oligarch, once Putin's patron, was granted asylum by the UK in 2003, souring relations?

Khodorkovsky was imprisoned and Gusinsky exiled; Abramovich and Arkady Rotenberg remained allies.

In July 2000 Putin gained the right to dismiss the heads of how many federal subjects?

In 2004 direct election of governors was replaced by presidential nomination.

Putin's 2007 speech criticising America's "monopolistic dominance" is known by the name of which city?

NATO's secretary general called it "disappointing and not helpful"; many date the new East-West chill from it.

Putin led the successful bid to bring the 2014 Winter Olympics to which city?

They were the first Winter Games ever held in Russia; the 2018 FIFA World Cup followed.

Russia annexed which peninsula in March 2014, following the Revolution of Dignity in Kyiv?

Putin called it an inseparable part of Russia; the move triggered international sanctions.

Putin ordered a military intervention in 2015 to support which Middle Eastern leader?

Two years earlier he had written a New York Times op-ed urging America not to intervene in Syria.

Constitutional amendments signed in April 2021 could allow Putin to remain president until which year?

They reset his term count, permitting two more six-year runs.

In March 2023 which body issued an arrest warrant for Putin over alleged child abductions during the war?

Russia does not recognise the court's jurisdiction.

How many Ukrainian oblasts did Putin announce Russia was annexing in September 2022?

The announcement came alongside a partial mobilisation.

Putin was Time magazine's Person of the Year in which year?

Forbes ranked him the world's most powerful person every year from 2013 to 2016.

Forbes named Putin the World's Most Powerful Individual every year from 2013 to which year?

He was ranked second in 2018, the last year the list was published.

Putin's official share of the vote in the 2024 presidential election was what?

Authorities reported nearly 99 percent in Chechnya; observers reported ballot stuffing and coercion.

Putin married Lyudmila Shkrebneva in which year?

They announced the end of the marriage in June 2013; the divorce was finalised in 2014.

Putin and Lyudmila announced that their marriage was over in which year?

The Kremlin confirmed the divorce had been finalised on 1 April 2014.

How many dogs had foreign leaders given Putin as gifts by the end of 2019?

Konni, Buffy, Yume, Verni and Pasha; his Labrador Konni died in 2014.

Which two martial arts did Putin compete in as a young man in Leningrad?

He co-authored the book Learn Judo with Vladimir Putin and holds one of the sport's highest grades.

In 2012 Putin became the first Russian awarded which judo grade?

An eighth-degree karate black belt followed in 2014; the sport's world body removed him from all positions in March 2022.

Putin was removed from all positions in which sporting body in March 2022?

He had been the federation's honorary president.

Which football club does Putin support?

He also follows ice hockey and bandy, and played in a star-studded hockey game on his 63rd birthday.

Putin says his religious awakening began after a 1993 car crash involving his wife and what 1996 event?

His mother later gave him his baptismal cross, which he says he has never taken off.

What is the Black Sea mansion exposed in a 2021 Navalny investigation popularly called?

It was alleged to have cost about US$1 billion; the Kremlin denied Putin owned it.

Which 2007 tabloid photograph, headlined "Be Like Putin," became emblematic of his tough-guy image?

Wired described a PR approach that "deliberately cultivates the macho, take-charge superhero image."

Putin's official Moscow-region residence, where he often receives visitors, is called what?

Bocharov Ruchey is his Sochi residence; critics in 2012 counted 20 villas and palaces at his disposal.

Putin's 2013 New York Times op-ed urged caution against U.S. intervention in which country?

He then helped arrange the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons before backing Assad militarily in 2015.

In 2008 Putin reportedly told George W. Bush that which country 'is not even a state'?

The following year he referred to it as "Little Russia."

After the 2018 Salisbury poisoning of Sergei Skripal, how many Russian diplomats did the UK expel?

Russia expelled 23 British diplomats in return; Boris Johnson said it was "overwhelmingly likely" Putin had ordered the attack.

What was the dacha co-operative Putin and seven friends registered in 1996 called?

The word means 'Lake'. The gated community sat on Lake Komsomolskoye, where Putin had rebuilt his dacha after a fire.

Which Chinese leader held his first meeting with Putin in December 2002?

The two went on to meet five or six times a year as the ESPO oil pipeline and Power of Siberia gas pipeline deepened the relationship.

Which flower named Kyrgyzstan's 2005 'colour revolution'?

Putin warned in 2004 that 'permanent revolutions' risked plunging the post-Soviet space into endless conflict.

Which Georgian president tried to retake South Ossetia in August 2008, triggering war with Russia?

Russian forces entered South Ossetia and then other parts of Georgia, opening a second front in Abkhazia.

At which institution did Putin earn his 1997 Candidate of Economic Sciences degree?

His supervisor, Vladimir Litvinenko, later ran his presidential campaigns in St Petersburg; some scholars call the thesis plagiarised.