PROFILE-Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin

Position: Chairman of the Government of Russian Federation

Incumbent: Vladimir Putin, 57

Term: Appointed on May 8, 2008. Eligible for reappointment for indefinite term by the country's president.

Key facts:

-- Vladimir Putin is currently the most popular and powerful Russian politician. Putin personally oversees all large corporate deals and has the ultimate decision power in fiscal and monetary policy issues. He remains closely involved in foreign and security policy decisions although they are formally outside his sphere of responsibility. Putin leads the country's largest political party, United Russia, which controls the Duma lower house of parliament.

-- Putin was appointed prime minister in 2008 by his long-term ally President-elect Dmitry Medvedev. Putin previously served eight years as president himself, running the country during an oil-fueled economic boom. Since 2008 the two men have been working in a so-called "tandem" in which most observers see Putin as the senior partner.

-- Putin, a former Soviet spymaster who had once worked in East Germany, resigned from the security services in the early 1990s to launch a political career in his native St Petersburg. In 1996 he moved to Moscow where he soon became head of the FSB security agency from where he was picked by President Boris Yeltsin as his chosen successor. Putin is married with two daughters. He speaks fluent German and good English.

-- As president Putin pushed through an agenda of a strong centralized state and liberal economic reforms. Putin sought to curb powers of business tycoons dubbed "oligarchs" and regional governors. He drove the campaign against the owner of oil major YUKOS Mikhail Khodorkovsky, now serving jail term for tax evasion and fraud, and abolished regional elections. Putin's economic reforms stumbled during his second term when Russia's fiscal revenues rose sharply due to high prices for oil and gas, Russia's main export commodities.

-- In the fiscal sphere, Putin initially backed conservative policies of Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who created a fund for windfall oil revenues and paid down most of Russia's sovereign debt. Despite opposition from Kudrin, Putin loosened fiscal policy toward the end of his second term in office allocating more money for infrastructure and social spending. Putin's fiscal policy is based on the oil sector taxation while other taxes are relatively low.

-- Putin did not deliver on his promise to diversify the Russian economy away from the energy sector. He also failed to reduce corruption, seen as one of Russia's worst systemic problems. Contrary to Putin's promises to improve the investment climate, several corporate conflicts during his presidency led to major foreign firms losing out to their Russian partners in lucrative joint projects.

-- Putin backed the central bank in a move to liberalize capital account movement in 2006 but stopped short of allowing the ruble to float, which resulted in a massive inflow of capital before the economic crisis in 2008 and led to bubbles om stock and real estate markets and high corporate sector debt. The central bank admitted that the move was premature.

-- In foreign policy Putin attempted to improve relations with the United States when he telephoned U.S. President George W. Bush to offer condolences after the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center. The two remained on good personal terms, but the Russia-U.S. relationship deteriorated during Putin's presidency. Putin's public statements suggest he is wary of U.S. dominance in global affairs. Putin has build good relationships with leaders of major European Union powers, such as Germany, Italy and France as well as with the leadership of Turkey, all major consumers of Russian gas.

-- As head of government, Putin spearheaded the fight against the 2008-09 economic crisis which hit Russia harder than other large emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil. Putin approved the so-called gradual devaluation of the ruble, which cost Russia about $200 billion from its gold and foreign exchange reserves but provided time for firms and households to convert rubles into foreign currency. He backed state aid and bailouts for corporates and stuck to the pledge to raise pensions. The budget is now expected to run a deficit until 2015.

-- Putin pays particular attention to the Russian gas industry and has personally pushed through international projects aimed at diversification of gas export routes, bypassing transit countries such as Ukraine and Belarus.

-- Putin has so far failed to complete Russia's long-standing bid to join the World Trade Organization. Last year he took markets by surprise announcing that Russia was freezing WTO accession talks and instead forming a Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan. WTO talks have since resumed.

-- With the 2012 presidential election in sight, Putin's political future is now the most important domestic policy issue in Russia. Putin himself said he would like to concentrate on his current work and will decide whether to run for the presidency depending on its outcome. Putin said he has no plans to retire.

(Writing by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Paul Simao)