Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin is the current sitting President of Russia, an office he has held since 2012, and previously held from 1999 to 2008. From 1999 to 2000, and again from 2008 to 2012, Putin also served as the Prime Minister of Russia. He is considered to be the second-longest serving European president after Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, although his reign has been accused of authoritarianism and blighted by military intervention. Prior to embarking on his political career with the government of Saint Petersburg, Putin served in the KGB throughout the 1970s and 1980s.