Since first being elected Russian president in 2000, Vladimir Putin has been called many things -- for example, Mr. President and Mr. Prime Minister. But whether you think of him as a stabilizing force in a nation emerging from a decade of chaos or a power-hungry autocrat unwillng to relinquish power, no one can deny that Vlad wears many hats. He flies planes and races cars, feeds baby moose, and serenades audiences. And he does it all with that trademark blank stare. Here, we take a look at some of the images that turned Putin from a mere ex-KGB officer cum leader-for-life into an icon.
Above, Putin adjusts his sunglasses as he watches an air show during the International Aviation and Space Show outside Moscow on Aug. 17, 2011.
DMITRY KOSTYUKOV/AFP/Getty Images
THE EARLY YEARS
Since coming to power in 2000, Putin has overseen a dozen years of political stability -- so stable, in fact, that Putin never left the Kremlin. Here, we remember the boyish charm of Vlad's early years.
Above, a young Putin -- then Russia's acting prime minister -- speaks to the media after the meeting of leaders of the Federation Council, Russian parliament's upper house, in Moscow on Aug. 11, 1999.
AFP/Getty Images
Putin watches as makeup is applied to his face before the start of his interview on CNN's Larry King Live in New York on September 8, 2000. Putin was in New York for the United Nations Millennium Summit.
JOSHUA ROBERTS/AFP/Getty Images
Putin, surrounded by press and local officials, inspects a van at a car manufacturing plant during his visit to the city of Nizhny Novgorod on March 21, 2000. A week later, Putin would win the presidential election, beating his closest opponent (Communist leader Gennadi Zyuganov) by 20 percentage points.
SERGEI KARPUKHIN/AFP/Getty Images
Putin holds flowers and wears a traditional Tatar hat on June 24, 2000 outside Kazan, Tatarstan during the celebration of a local holiday. Putin took an active part in mid-summer festivities in central Russian Republic, retrieving a coin from a tub of fermented milk with his teeth.
Liaison
The Sportsman
Putin has never shied away from getting his hands dirty, but he draws the line at staining his shirts. Whether riding a horse or stalking game, Putin loves getting physical.
Above, Putin fishes in the headwaters of the Yenisei River of the Russian Tuva republic on Aug. 13, 2007. In 2007, Time magazine named President Vladimir Putin its person of the year in recognition of the Russian leader's role in making Moscow "a critical linchpin of the 21st century." The award, which is not considered an honor so much as a recognition of the most powerful forces shaping the world, was awarded for Putin's role in reshaping a country that Time's Managing Editor Richard Stengel said had "fallen off our mental map."
ASTAKHOV/AFP/Getty Images
Putin fishes in the Yenisei River on Aug. 13, 2007.
DMITRY ASTAKHOV/AFP/Getty Images
Putin carrys a hunting rifle in the Republic of Tuva on August 15, 2007. He was visitng the Siberian region for a fishing trip with Prince Albert of Monaco.
DMITRY ASTAKHOV/AFP/Getty Images
It's not easy being an action hero. Here, Putin receives consultation from traumatologist Viktor Petrachenkov during his visit to Smolensk Regional Hospital on Aug. 25, 2011. Putin said he had hurt his shoulder during morning judo practice.
ALEKSEY DRUZHININ/AFP/Getty Images
THE ANIMAL LOVER
Sure, he may seem like a tough guy, but Vlad isn't all about violently supressing insurgencies and winning elections by huge margins. He also has a soft spot for animals. Here, we look at some of Putin's encounters with his fuzzy friends.
Putin rides a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia on Aug. 3, 2009.
ALEXEY DRUZHININ/AFP/Getty Images
Dressed warmly to face the Russian winter, Putin takes a horseback ride in the Karatash area during his working trip to Khakassia on Feb. 25, 2010.
DRUZHININ/AFP/Getty Images
Then-Prime Minister Putin hugs a Bulgarian shepherd dog -- a present from his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov -- after their press conference in Sofia on Nov. 13, 2010. Bulgaria's state energy holding BEH and Russian gas giant Gazprom had just agreed to a joint venture to build and operate the Bulgarian stretch of the South Stream gas pipeline from Russia to southern Europe.
AFP NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP/Getty Images
Putin fixes a GPS-Argos satellite transmitter onto a tiger during his visit to the Ussuriysky forest reserve of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the Far East on Aug.31, 2008.
ALEXEY DRUZHININ/AFP/Getty Images
Putin and scientists examine a polar bear on the island Alexandra Land, part of the Franz Josef Land archipalego in the Arctic Ocean. Putin, better known in the West for his tough-guy image, expressed concern for the fate of Arctic polar bears threatened by climate change. "The polar bear is under threat. Their population is currently only 25,000 individuals," Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.
ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/AFP/Getty Images
President Putin kisses a sturgeon fish at a fish-hatchery on the Volga river on August 31, 2007. Moments later, Putin set the fish free into the wild.
MIKHAIL KLEMENTYEV/AFP/Getty Images
Putin aims at a whale with an arbalest to take a piece of its skin for analysis on the Olga Bay on Aug. 25, 2010.
ALEXEY DRUZHININ/AFP/Getty Images
Putin feeds milk to a moose on June 5, 2010, during a visit to the Moose Island National Park in Moscow on the eve of World Environment Day.
DRUZHININ/AFP/Getty Images
Putin feeds a Beluga whale named Dasha as he visits Chkalov Island on July 31, 2009.
ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/AFP/Getty Images
PUTIN THE BULLY
But just because Putin shows his soft underbelly to his forest friends doesn't mean he won't take a hard line when he needs to. From young girls to full-grown women, Vlad isn't afraid to use force when necessary.
Above, Putin arm wrestles with Yulia Beganova on June 24, 2000 near Kazan, Tatarstan during celebrations for a local holiday.
Liaison
Here, Putin in judo gear struggles against 10-year-old Japanese schoolgirl Natsumi Gomi on a tatami mat as he visits Kodokan judo hall on Sept. 5, 2000 in Tokyo. Putin, who has a black belt in the sport, was thrown over her shoulder onto the mat.
Pool Photo/Liaison
Putin schools two children in the strategy game tic-tac-toe during a visit to a library in Tyumen on Feb. 26, 2010.
ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/AFP/Getty Images
PUTIN, MAN OF ACTION
Other world leaders may spend their days mired in the minutiae of legislating, but Putin, perhaps the world's last action hero, is the sort of politician who likes to get things done, be it by snatching priceless artifacts from the sea or flying a plane over a wildfire.
Here, Russia's strongman holds two ancient amphorae he found while scuba diving at an underwater archaeological site at Phanagoria on the Taman Peninsula on Aug. 10, 2011. Critics noted quickly that the vases did not appear to have been submerged for long.
ALEXEY DRUZHININ/AFP/Getty Images
Putin wears a helmet and the uniform of the Renault Formula One team before driving a F1 race car on a special track outside St. Petersburg on Nov. 7, 2010.
ALEXEY DRUZHININ/AFP/Getty Images
Putin sits in the cabin of a Russian firefighting aircraft Be-200 during the firefighting effort in the Rayzan region on Aug. 10, 2010. At the time, Russia was fighitng a deadly battle to prevent wildfires from engulfing key nuclear sites, and Putin, never one to shy from a challenge, took to the air in a water-bombing plane to join the firefighting effort.
ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/AFP/Getty Images
Putin rides a Harley Davidson Lehman Trike as he leaves a meeting with motorbikers at their camp at Gasfort Lake near Sevastopol in Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula on July 24, 2010. Putin roared into the international biker convention in southern Ukraine, where around 5,000 bikers from Europe and beyond were gathered.
ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/AFP/Getty Images
Putin, dressed as a doctor, meets with a victim of a metro terrorist bomb attack at a Moscow hospital on March 29, 2010. Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up on packed metro trains in Moscow that week.
NIKOLSKY/AFP/Getty Images
Holding a dentist's drill,
Putin prepares to interrogate shares a joke with Belgorod Region's Gov. Yevgeny Savchenko
as they visit a dental room at a hospital in the village of Golovchino in
the central Belgorod region on Nov. 15, 2011. One of Putin's most controversial acts in office has been eliminating the direct election of governors.
AFP PHOTO/ RIA-NOVOSTI/ALEXEI NIKOLSKY
A scholarly Putin adjusts his cap after receiving an honorary doctorate in Baku on Jan. 10, 2001.
YURI KOCHETKOV/AFP/Getty Images
Putin plays piano during a charity concert in Saint Petersburg on Dec. 10, 2010.The dapper Putin drew rave reviews for his cover of "Blueberry Hill."
ALEKSEY NIKOLSKYI/AFP/Getty Images
PUTIN AND FRIENDS
Of course, no man -- not even a man of Putin's impressive qualifications -- is an island. Putin is known to pal around with some fo the world's best-known, if not best-loved, global leaders.From his best bud, former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, to his brother-in-arms Dmitri Medvedev (more on that later), Putin is the sort of guy who keeps his friends close and his enemies ... well, locked up.
Above, Putin shakes hands with Kim Jong Il, the late North Korean leader, during an official meeting in Pyongyang on July 19, 2000.
ITAR-TASS/AFP/Getty Images
Berlusconi and Putin laugh as they prepare to have informal dinner in a tent in a wildlife preserve and recreation area on Feb. 3, 2003.
ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/AFP/Getty Images
Putin chats with George W. Bush -- who famously noted that he was "able to get a sense of [Putin's] soul" -- after donning matching traditional Chinese silk coats as they walk to a family photo session of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shanghai, on Oct. 21, 2001.
ERIKO SUGITA/AFP/Getty Images
Putin, Chinese President Hu Jintao, and Australian Prime Minister John Howard pose with Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun as leaders and representatives from APEC pose for a photo at the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall in Bangkok on Oct. 21, 2003.
TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Putin, and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, looking a little under the weather, pose for a photo aboard a passenger jet as they tour an airport in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Dec. 3, 2010.
VLADIMIR RODIONOV/AFP/Getty Images
THE BROMANCE
Sure, Putin has many friends, but one in particular holds a special place in his heart. Confidant, colleague, place-holder for power -- Medvedev has been all this and more.Their bromance took the world by storm, and won our hearts along the way.
Above, Medvedev and Putin fish while on holiday on the Volga River on Aug. 16, 2011.
MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/AFP/Getty Images
Medvedev sand Putin compare rackets as they play badminton in the residence of Gorky outside Moscow on June 11, 2011.
DMITRY ASTAKHOV/AFP/Getty Images
Medvedev and Putin play billiards in the Bocharov Ruchei residence of the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Dec.3, 2010.
VLADIMIR RODIONOV/AFP/Getty Images
Medvedev and Putin share a tête-a-tête while skiing in Krasnaya Polyana near the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Jan. 3, 2010.
DMITRY ASTAKHOV/AFP/Getty Images
After a dozen years in power, Putin has shown many faces to the world. Who knows what the next dozen years of his reign will bring?
Above, Putin kicks back with a beer after the May Labor Day rally in Moscow on May 1, 2012.
ALEXEY DRUZHININ/AFP/Getty Images
