At first, few thought that Putin, as the ailing Yeltsin self-chosen successor, would be a viable candidate for president of Russia. But the new prime minister strong hand in both domestic and international politics specially his notoriously hard-line stance against Chechen rebels warned him skyrocketing approval ratings and the reputation as Russia most popular politician.
On December 31, 1999, Yeltsin resigned as president, six months before the end of his term. In a move clearly calculated to attract the most possible international attention, he appointed Putin acting president, announcing that Russia must enter the new millennium with new politicians, with new personalities and with new smart, strong and energetic people.? If Putin’s actual agenda for Russia remained unclear throughout the next several months, he nevertheless managed to ride the wave of popular support to a victory in the first round of the general elections on March 27, 2000, when he became Russia’s second president and its youngest leader since 1922, when Josef Stalin became general secretary of the Communist Party.
Though Putin remains somewhat of an inscrutable figure both personally and politically, it is widely believed that his presidency will continue the new course of Russian politics by Yeltsin into the twenty-first century.
Putin, who is determinedly private about his personal life, married his wife, Lyudmila, in the early 1980s. They have two daughters, Katya and Maria.
