TIMELINE: Vladimir Putin, from premier to president to premier
Fri Aug 7, 2009 9:53am EDT
(Reuters) - Vladimir Putin marks 10 years in power on Sunday.
Here are some of the key events since he first took office as prime minister in 1999:
August 9, 1999 - President Boris Yeltsin names Vladimir Putin, the hitherto low-profile head of the FSB security service, as his new prime minister and preferred successor. The fourth nominee in 17 months, few expected him to last.
September - More than 300 civilians die in apartment block blasts blamed on Chechen rebels in cities including Moscow. Critics say the bombings were the work of the government, designed to turn public opinion against Chechnya.
September 23 - Putin orders bombing raids against the Chechen capital Grozny followed by a full-scale land offensive. Within months Russian troops retake Chechnya and install a loyal administration. Putin's popularity rockets.
December 31, 1999 - Yeltsin announces his early resignation. Putin becomes acting president.
March 26, 2000 - Putin wins the presidential election with 53 percent of the vote.
May 2000 - Putin appoints liberal economist Mikhail Kasyanov as his prime minister. A series of market reforms follow. The Russian economic recovery, helped by high oil prices, takes off.
August 2000 - Nuclear submarine Kursk with 117 sailors and officers on board sinks in the Barents Sea. There are no survivors. Media criticize Putin for mishandling the crisis.
September 1, 2004 - More than 330 people, half of them children, killed in attack by Chechen rebels on a school in Beslan. Putin orders a crackdown on the rebels and demands more powers to fight terrorism.
-- Within two years, rebel leaders Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev are killed. Large-scale rebel resistance ceases.
-- Parliament approves new laws changing the rules of parliamentary elections and scrapping gubernatorial elections. Critics say the changes give Putin sweeping powers.
March 14, 2004 - Putin is re-elected as president.
July 2006 - Russia hosts the G8 summit in St Petersburg, a high point in Putin's drive to make Russia a key global player.
January 2007 - Putin, addressing an international conference in Munich, accuses the U.S. of a desire to dominate the world. The speech irks Western governments already concerned about how Moscow uses its growing energy might.
December 2007 - Putin presents long-time ally Dmitry Medvedev as his preferred successor and says he will become his prime minister and lead the largest party in parliament. Putin's support makes Medvedev's victory in the March 2 presidential election certain.
May 7, 2008 - Medvedev duly appoints Putin as prime minister after his inauguration as president.
August 9 - Putin accuses Georgia of seeking "bloody adventures" and trying to drag other countries into a military conflict in its separatist region of South Ossetia. Georgia, which has close ties with the West, and Russia came into direct conflict over the pro-Russian rebel region after Tbilisi launched an offensive to regain control over it.
January 19, 2009 - Russia and Ukraine sign a 10-year gas supply deal to clear the way for a prompt resumption of supplies to a freezing Europe, cut off for nearly two weeks by a dispute between the ex-Soviet republics. Putin personally negotiates the deal with his Ukrainian counterparty Yulia Tymoshenko.
April 6 - Putin defends his handling of Russia's worst economic crisis in a decade, telling lawmakers that a 3 trillion rouble ($90 billion) package of measures would ensure the country survived and prospered.
June 29 - Putin orders Russia's state-run banks to increase their total loan portfolio by some 450 billion roubles ($14.46 billion) over the next three months in a call to action as the Economy Ministry's outlook turned sharply worse.
July 3 - Putin rejects U.S. President Obama's charge that he was mired in Cold War thinking, setting the scene for a stormy first meeting at a Moscow summit.
July 7 - Obama praises Putin's achievements during their summit, attempting to mend fences with the prime minister.
(Writing by Oleg Shchedrov and David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE57633O20090807
