Acting President of Russia in the context of "Federal Assembly of Russia"

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. He has been described as the de facto leader of Russia since 2000.

Putin worked as a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He resigned in 1991 to begin a political career in Saint Petersburg. In 1996, he moved to Moscow to join the administration of President Boris Yeltsin. He briefly served as the director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and then as secretary of the Security Council of Russia before being appointed prime minister in August 1999. Following Yeltsin's resignation, Putin became acting president and, less than four months later in May 2000, was elected to his first term as president. He was reelected in 2004. Due to constitutional limitations on two consecutive presidential terms, Putin served as prime minister again from 2008 to 2012 under Dmitry Medvedev. He returned to the presidency in 2012, following an election marked by allegations of fraud and protests, and was reelected in 2018.

In the early 2000s, significant political changes took place in Russia with Vladimir Putin's rise to power. He previously held key positions in security forces and government, and he became the successor to President Boris Yeltsin.

After serving as the director of the Federal Security Service and as Secretary of the Security Council in August 1999, Putin became the head of the government. On 31 December 1999, following the resignation of President Boris Yeltsin, he was appointed Acting President. He was first elected President of Russia on 26 March 2000, and then re-elected in 2004, 2012, 2018, and 2024.

Since 1999, Vladimir Putin has continuously served as either president (acting president from 1999 to 2000; two terms 2000–2008, three terms 2012–present) or Prime Minister of Russia (three months in 1999, full term 2008–2012). Putin has been described as the de facto leader of Russia since 2000.

During his presidency, he has been a member of the Unity party and the United Russia party. He is also affiliated with the People's Front, a group of supporters that Putin organized in 2011 to help improve the public's perception of United Russia. His political ideology, priorities and policies are sometimes referred to as Putinism.

Alexander Vladimirovich Rutskoy (Russian: Александр Владимирович Руцкой; born 16 September 1947) is a Russian politician and former Soviet military officer who served as the only vice president of Russia from 1991 to 1993. He was proclaimed acting president following Boris Yeltsin's impeachment during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, in which he played a key role.

Born in Proskuriv, Ukraine (modern Khmelnytskyi), Rutskoy served with great distinction as an air force officer during the Soviet–Afghan War, for which he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. In the 1991 Russian presidential election, he was chosen by Boris Yeltsin to be his vice-presidential running mate, but later became increasingly critical of Yeltsin's economic and foreign policies. In late September 1993, Yeltsin ordered the unconstitutional dissolution of the Russian parliament. In response, the parliament immediately annulled his decree, impeached him and proclaimed Rutskoy acting president. After a two-week standoff and popular unrest, Yeltsin ordered the military to storm the parliament building, arrested Rutskoy and formally dismissed him as vice president. He was imprisoned until early 1994, being released after the State Duma granted him amnesty.

The Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation (Russian: Председатель Совета Федерации Федерального собрания Российской Федерации), also informally called Speaker (спикер), is the presiding officer of the upper house of the Russian parliament. It is the third highest position, after the President and the Prime Minister, in the government of Russia. In the case of incapacity of the President and Prime Minister, the chairman of the Federation Council becomes Acting President of Russia.