To mark Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 61st birthday on Oct. 7, 2013, RIA Novosti presents a few memorable occasions from his tenure in the country’s leadership.
May 7, 2000. Vladimir Putin and Russia’s first president, Boris Yeltsin, at the Grand Kremlin Palace on the day of Putin’s inauguration.
March 3, 2000. Vladimir Putin pictured in a Su-27 fighter jet after landing in Grozny, the capital of war-torn Chechnya.
Vladimir Putin calling George W. Bush to express condolences after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York.
April 29, 2003. Vladimir Putin attending an Easter service in the Church of St. Nicholas in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan.
November 8, 2006. Vladimir Putin inspecting the new headquarters of Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU.
August 3, 2009. Vladimir Putin feeding a horse during a vacation in Tuva, Siberia.
December 10, 2010. Vladimir Putin playing a piano at a charity event in St. Petersburg for children diagnosed with cancer.
November 15, 2011. While visiting a rural hospital in the Belgorod Region, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made local Governor Yevgeny Savchenko sit in a dentist’s chair and told him he would work on the governor’s teeth himself if the equipment was not upgraded in the nearest future.
August 10, 2011. Vladimir Putin traveled to the Taman Peninsula to scuba dive at a site known as the Russian Atlantis. Putin came up to the surface after diving to the bottom of the Taman Bay with two ancient, slightly damaged ceramic urns. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, later admitted in a TV interview that the urns had been planted there by archaeologists for him to find.
March 4, 2012. Vladimir Putin greeting supporters at a rally in downtown Moscow after winning his third presidential election.
May 1, 2012. Vladimir Putin drinking beer in a bar on Novy Arbat street, Moscow.
March 2013. Vladimir Putin playing with his dogs, an Akita Inu named Yume and a Karakachan (Bulgarian Shepherd) named Buffy, during an outing in the Moscow Region.
September 5, 2013. Vladimir Putin waiting for the leaders of G20 member states during a summit in St. Petersburg.
August 9, 2013. Vladimir Putin walking alone down a street in St. Petersburg after the funeral of his judo coach Anatoly Rakhlin.
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© RIA Novosti
Vladimir Putin, teary-eyed, addressing supporters on Moscow’s Manezh Square after his third election as president.
