Vladimir Putin has been president for about 18 years. His rise to the top all started back in 1999 when he was a little-known official in the Russian government. However, that all changed when he was appointed prime minister by then-President Boris Yeltsin, according to The Sun. In 2000, he ran for president and won, and emerged victorious again in 2004, this time receiving 70 percent of the vote, which allowed him to consolidate his power (via The New York Times).
In 2008, Putin was forced to step down as president due to term limits but was quickly appointed prime minister by then-president Dmitry Medvedev, as The Guardian reported. In 2012, Putin was again elected as president, this time with changes to the Russian constitution allowing the president to serve six-year terms instead of four-year terms; he won again in 2018, this time with an estimated 60 percent of the vote. That meant that Putin would have to vacate the office in 2024, but even more changes to the Russian constitution have been affected since then, and one change allows Putin to hold on to power until 2036, when he’ll be in his 80s.
