Installed in the Kremlin since December 31, 1999, Vladimir Putin remains, more than a quarter of a century later, the central figure of power in Russia. Re-elected in 2024 for another six-year term following an election without any real opposition, he can theoretically remain in office until 2036. The question of his succession remains taboo in the country.
A former KGB officer who served in the mayor's office in Saint Petersburg in the 1990s before becoming Prime Minister and then successor to Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin has gradually consolidated his authority. His early years in the Kremlin were marked by the crackdown on oligarchs, the recentralization of power, restrictions on civil liberties, and increased control of the media.
Marginalized opposition and repression
Several opposition figures have paid a heavy price over the years, including Boris Nemtsov, assassinated in Moscow in 2015, and Alexei Navalny, who died in detention in February 2024. Organizations critical of the government, such as the NGO Memorial, have been dissolved. The Kremlin rejects any accusation of authoritarian drift and presents these measures as necessary for the country's stability.
On the international stage, the 2008 war in Georgia, the 2014 annexation of Crimea, and the large-scale offensive launched in Ukraine in 2022 have profoundly redefined Russia's place on the world stage. This conflict, now entering its fifth year, could be the defining element of Vladimir Putin's presidential legacy, according to several analysts.
Despite Western sanctions and an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, the Russian president maintains that he wants to defend his country's sovereignty against what he describes as Western hegemony. Domestically, his power remains firmly established, supported by a tightly controlled state apparatus and a discourse focused on stability and national values.
