Agencies Moscow

Exactly 25 years ago on May 7, an obscure ex-KGB colonel Vladimir Putin -- with little public exposure as deputy mayor of St Petersburg -- took the oath of the highest office in the post-Communist Russia. A quarter century later, Putin, 72, still remains the most popular politician in Russia, as was evident by last year's election, which Putin won with 88.48 per cent of votes polled.

In a TV documentary shown on Sunday, he, however, said that he was looking for a successor, but it was not in his power as the successor would have to seek a popular vote in the elections with strong rivals. For Putin, it has been a 25-year journey that has come to coincide with Russia's journey in the 21st century.

His predecessor Boris Yeltsin, Russia's first directly elected president, had resigned due to failing health on the backdrop of political instability, financial and economic, militancy in the Northern Caucasus and a spate of terrorist attacks. He handed Putin, the incumbent prime minister of the country, the hot Kremlin seat on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1999.

Putin was elected on March 26, 2000, bagging 53 per cent votes by beating Communist rival Gennady Zyuganov and liberal Yabloko block leader Grigory Yavlinsky in "reasonably free and fair" polls, according to a declassified US Embassy cable from Moscow in 2024.

The way Putin resolutely fought Chechen militancy, assured timely pensions to the most vulnerable section of society, revived manufacturing in the country, generating employment, ensured a second term with almost 72 per cent votes. Due to constitutional restraint of two four-year consecutive terms, he stepped aside and took over the job of prime minister under President Dmitry Medvedev for four years.

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Russian attack kills 2 in Ukraine

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