Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who is serving as the current President of Russia since 2012, previously being in the office from 1999 until 2008. He was also prime minister from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. As of 2021, Putin is the second-longest serving European president, after Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus.
Putin is heavily demonized by the Western press for his economic policies which threaten the Western global monopoly on the oil markets, as well as his foreign policy which is anti-imperialist in nature, defending the sovereignty of states (such as Syria[1][2], Venezuela[3]) against Western regime change efforts.