2000: Elected president and serves two four-year terms

2008: Barred from running for a third consecutive term, stuns analysts by returning to post of prime minister while his protege Dmitry Medvedev becomes president

2012: Re-elected president and for term of six years, under new law

2018: Re-elected for fourth term

How has Russia changed under Putin?

Ordinary Russians welcomed the stability associated with Mr Putin's early years in office when inflation was reined in and basic state functions like the welfare system were shored up.

Separatist violence in the North Caucasus which had plagued the administration of Mr Putin's predecessor, the late Boris Yeltsin, was finally brought to a bloody end.

Image copyrightREUTERS

As prosperity grew, fuelled by oil and gas revenue, Mr Putin oversaw an increase in state power, rolling back independent media as well as political freedoms.

His decision to annex Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 sparked one of the biggest international crises since the Cold War, incurring Western sanctions which continue to this day.