- published: 29 Dec 2012
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Anatoliy Eduardovich Serdyukov (Russian: Анатолий Эдуардович Сердюкóв) (born January 8, 1962) is a Russian politician and businessman who has been the Defense Minister of Russia since February 15, 2007. He is known for launching major reforms in the Russian military.
Born at Krasnodar Krai, Serdyukov graduated from Leningrad Institute of Soviet Trade in 1984 with a degree in economics. From 1984 to 1985 he served in the Soviet Army. Since 1985 he had worked in a furniture shop and from 1995 to 2000 was the director general of Furniture Market, a furniture company in Saint Petersburg. Serdyukov's career started to develop very successfully after the election of Vladimir Putin as Russian President in 2000. In 2001 Serdyukov graduated from the Law Department of Saint Petersburg State University. From 2000 to 2001 he served as a Deputy Chief of the Saint Petersburg Directorate of the Tax Ministry of Russia, from 2001 to 2004 he led the Directorate, succeeding Viktor Zubkov, his father-in-law. On March 2, 2004, he was appointed Deputy Tax Minister of Russia.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Пу́тин; IPA: [vɫɐˈdʲimʲɪr vɫɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ ˈputʲɪn] ( listen); born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician who has been the President of Russia since 7 May 2012. Putin previously served as President from 2000 to 2008 and as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000, and again from 2008 to 2012. Putin also serves as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when president Boris Yeltsin resigned in a surprising move. Putin won the 2000 presidential election; in 2004 he was re-elected for a second term lasting until 7 May 2008.
Because of constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was ineligible to run for a third consecutive presidential term. After his successor Dmitry Medvedev won the 2008 presidential election, Putin was nominated by Medvedev to be Russia's Prime Minister; Putin took office on 8 May 2008 and a period of so-called "tandemocracy" followed. In September 2011, Putin and Medvedev agreed he should seek a third, non-consecutive term in the 2012 presidential election, which he won in the first round on 4 March 2012.