Vladimir Putin 11-Vladimir Putin has made many enemies during his long political career. After a 15-year stint in the Soviet KGB, he held various jobs before former President Boris Yeltsin appointed him prime minister in 1999. Later that year, he became president of Russia after Yeltsin resigned. A position he officially held from 1999 to 2008. He served as prime minister for four years before becoming president again in 2012, a position he still holds today.

He has also changed the country's constitution, and according to his plans, he aims to be in power until 2036. His career as an autocratic leader is filled with tragic events, when Putin's critics have been killed or disappeared under suspicious or mysterious circumstances. For example, investigative journalist Natalia Estemirova, who was investigating several cases of murders and kidnappings in Chechnya, was shot dead in a forest near her home. Or the case of Boris Berezovsky, a political leader and very wealthy man. At first a friend of Putin, he publicly vowed to "overthrow" the Russian president.

A few years later he was found dead in his London home. Initial reports suggested a suicide. But subsequent investigations found this theory less than convincing. Putin himself denied any involvement in the incident. But he himself has been the target of many assassination attempts and plots during his more than 2 decades in power. During a 2017 documentary, American director Oliver Stone mentioned the fact that Putin had served 3 terms as president by then, being the subject of 5 assassination attempts. Putin was first targeted by assassins when he was attending the funeral of his friend Anatoly Sobchak in St. Petersburg on February 24, 2000.

The Federal Guard Service intervened in time, saving his life. The Federal Guard Service's press spokesman, Sergei Devistov, stated at the time that "there was not a psychopath behind the assassination, but a certain organization."

That same year, there was another attempted assassination attempt, which was prevented in time by security forces. A group of former Russian leaders were meeting with world leaders at the Yalta summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

During the summit, which took place on August 18-19, 2000, a man was stopped while trying to assassinate Putin. Although documents about that event remain classified, four Chechens and an unspecified number of Middle Eastern nationals were arrested.

In 2002, Putin was again in danger. Three months before he was to visit the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, Azerbaijani authorities were tipped off about a possible assassination attempt that would take place in January 2002. An Iraqi national with ties to Afghanistan and Chechen rebel forces was planning an explosives attack.

He was arrested, along with the person who sent him the explosives, Kianan Rostam, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Just a month later, there was another, much more dangerous threat. A man forced his way into the Kremlin compound by driving, and got out of his car to speak to members of the security guards.

He said: "My name is Ivan Zaitsev. I am the president of Russia. Now take me to Vladimir Putin!" The guards were surprised by what they saw, checked his documents, and then sent Zaitsev to be checked into a nearby psychiatric hospital.

Doctors told him that Zaitsev had tried to do the same thing in 2001, and both times he had enthusiastically told people that he wanted to kill Putin. He told his psychiatrists that Putin was bringing Nazism to Russia, and that he was a secret spy. “I want to cut off Putin’s head!” he wrote in his diary.

He was convinced he was avenging his brother, who had been beheaded several years earlier. The next assassination attempt occurred in November 2002, when Putin was supposed to be driving along the Rublevo-Uspenskoye highway, right near the Kremlin headquarters.

There was a group of people there who claimed to be putting up some new road signs on the highway. Just a few hours later, a media outlet reported that police had found over 40 kilograms of explosives specially placed to detonate along the highway.

But the plot was soon uncovered, and Vladimir Putin's entourage took a different route. To this day, officials refuse to comment on the incident, and even deny that it ever happened. Something very similar happened the following year.

In June 2003, a highway connecting St. Petersburg and Pskov was targeted while President Putin was supposed to be passing through. This time, police found a poorly made homemade bomb hidden in a bag.

In that case, no one was hurt, and Russian officials again denied the plot. The well-known news agency “Reuters” reported in 2008 that a sniper shot unsuccessfully at Putin, as he was leaving the office of the new president Dmitry Medvedev.

The two were reportedly taking a walk in the complex's park after Medvedev won the presidential election that year. The next attempt occurred in 2012. A group of Chechens planned to detonate a roadside bomb. But again the plan was foiled in time. Although it is difficult to determine the exact number, Putin has survived at least 7 assassination attempts. They have not been successful due to tight security measures.

In a 2017 interview with Oliver Stone, Putin admitted to talking about the failed assassination attempts against him, saying at the time that there had been five attempts to assassinate him.

Putin admitted that he had gone so far as to seek advice from another leader who had more experience in this area. He had asked Cuban President Fidel Castro about the details of his security measures. Castro is thought to have been the target of more than 600 assassination attempts. All failed, and he lived to be 90.

Putin recalls that conversation: "I talked to Castro about the assassinations. And he said to me: Do you know why I'm still alive? Because I personally deal with my own security." Putin added: "I do my job, and the security officers do theirs, and so far they are very successful in what they are doing." / Grunge – Bota.al