VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
He was born on September 29, 1936 in Milan into the family of a bank employee.
He graduated from the Law Department at the University of Milan.
1965: His business career began in construction and real estate.
Mid-1970s: He shifted his work into Italy's information market.
1980s: He became the owner of a nationwide cable television channel and several major weeklies and dailies.
1986: He set up a cable television channel in France, but was later forced to leave the French market.
1988: He purchased the AC Milan football club, Italy's champion in the 2003-2004 season.
He became the owner of the Fininvest media group, Italy's largest private corporation and leading commercial television operator.
Beginning of 1994: He began an election campaign and headed his own political movement, Forza Italia (Forward Italy, FI).
March 1994: Forward Italy won the parliamentary election with two separate alliances, one with the post-fascist National Alliance and the other with the Lega Nord (Northern League), receiving the absolute majority in the House of Representatives. The government formed by Berlusconi took the oath of office on May 11, 1994.
December 1994: The Berlusconi government resigned following the withdrawal of the Northern League from the ruling coalition.
1996: Forward Italy lost the parliamentary election to Romano Prodi's centre-left coalition Olive Tree.
May 2001: He won the parliamentary election as the leader of the centre-right coalition Casa delle Libertà (House of Freedoms). The newly formed Berlusconi government took the oath of office on June 11, 2001.
May 17, 2006: He resigned from post following his coalition's defeat in the parliamentary election.
April 13-14, 2008: Berlusconi's newly formed centre-right coalition, The People of Freedom, won the early election. Berlusconi's incumbent government took the oath of office on May 8, 2008.
March 2009 - present: He became chairman of the centre-right party The People of Freedom, formed through a merger of Forward Italy and the National Alliance.
He is the author of several non-fiction books, including a study of Thomas Moore's "Utopia."
He has two children from his previous marriage and three from his current marriage, as well as three grandchildren.
