TIMELINE: Vladimir Putin's 8 years as Russian president

(Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin's favored successor, Dmitry Medvedev, has the support of more than 70 percent of voters and is almost certain to win Sunday's presidential election.

Following is a timeline of highlights of the Putin presidency:

Aug 9, 1999 - Boris Yeltsin names little-known security chief Vladimir Putin as prime minister, says he wants Putin to succeed him as president.

Dec 31 - Yeltsin resigns, names Putin acting president.

August 12 - The Kursk nuclear-powered submarine sinks to the bottom of the Barents Sea killing all 118 crew. Putin's image suffers a jolt after he keeps a low profile and comments on the crisis for the first time only four days later.

June 2001 - Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush meet for their first summit in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana.

November - At his Texas ranch, Bush differs with Putin over U.S. missile defense ambitions and cuts in nuclear warheads.

May 2002 - Putin and Bush publicly differ in Moscow. Putin denies Russia could be helping Iran develop nuclear weapons.

June 2003 - Russia closes the TVS television channel, the sole countrywide station not owned by the state or a state-controlled company. The closure leads to a debate on press freedom.

December - Putin gains total control of the lower house of parliament, the Duma, after elections in which the Kremlin-backed United Russia party wins a landslide.

March 2004 - Putin wins second term as president with more than 70 percent of the vote.

September - Islamist fighters seize more than 1,000 people in a school in Beslan, triggering a three-day siege that ends in gunfire. A total of 333 hostages are killed. Half of them are children.

- Putin scraps direct election for regional governors and makes them, in effect, Kremlin appointees.

November - Putin approves Russia's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

April 2005 - Putin becomes the first Russian or Soviet leader to visit Israel as part of a Middle East tour.

July 2006 - Russian lawmakers unanimously endorse a Kremlin request that Putin be allowed to send special forces to hunt down terrorists anywhere in the world.