Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin (Cyrillic Владимир Владимирович Путин) is the current President of the Russian Federation. He succeeded Boris Yeltsin in 2000 through a democratic election getting a significant majority of the votes. He is mainly backed by the 'United Russia' party which holds a majority in the Russian parliament, known as the Duma. The Party usually reflects the political views of Putin, which are that of moderate conservatism and nationalism. The next major political party in Russia is the 'Communist Party' (which Putin is antagonistic towards) which still holds influence but the 'Bolshevik' Party (being the old Communist Party) is banned.

Putin is seen generally as an antagonist in the West; his presidency has become increasingly authoritarian and it is uncertain whether he will stand down when his term runs out for the last time in 2008. Putin has been described as a dictator by many critics. Prior to entering politics, Putin was a KGB officer during the later years of the USSR.