Vladimir Putin was sworn in on May 7 for a third term as Russian president. He said Russia is entering "a new stage of national development" and that the next few years will be "decisive" for the country. If Putin remains in the Kremlin for two more terms, winning reelection in 2018, he will be 71 when his final term ends in 2024. Here's a look back at a few decisive moments in Putin's political career thus far.
Putin Through The Years
1
Vladimir Putin and St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak (right) during a naming ceremony for Austrian Square in St. Petersburg on September 28, 1992.
2
Vladimir Putin, the city's newly appointed first deputy mayor, attends a news conference in St. Petersburg in December 1995.
3
Russian President Boris Yeltsin (right) shakes hands with Putin, whom he'd appointed to head the Federal Security Service in July, at a meeting in his Gorki Residence in Moscow on November 10, 1998.
4
Boris Yeltsin (right) leaves the Kremlin after an official ceremony marking the transfer of power to Vladimir Putin in Moscow on December 31, 1999.
5
Presidential candidate and acting head of state Vladimir Putin casts his ballot as his wife, Lyudmila, looks on at a polling station in Moscow in March 2000.
6
Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, attend a requiem for the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
7
Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the monument to the 118 sailors who died aboard the "Kursk" nuclear submarine during a visit to Kursk in August 2003.
8
President Vladimir Putin visits a child injured during the deadly Beslan hostage siege in September 2004.
9
U.S. President George W. Bush leans over the steering wheel while driving Russian President Vladimir Putin's 1956 Volga outside Moscow in May 2005.
10
Putin meets with then-Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov at the Kremlin in May 2006.
11
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, attend the funeral of Boris Yeltsin along with former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton (left) and George Bush in Moscow in April 2007.
12
U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin shake hands during a meeting at the latter's country residence home in Novo Ogaryovo, near Moscow, in July 2009.
13
A shirtless Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides a horse during a vacation in the Russian Republic of Tuva in August 2009.
15
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin appears to wipe away a tear as he addresses supporters during a rally in Manezh Square near the Kremlin on March 2012.