Vladimir Putin was sworn in as the Russian President on Monday for the fourth time. The 65-year-old Russian leader took oath at an official ceremony in the Grand Kremlin Palace in the Russian capital, Moscow, 18 years after he first came to power.
"I consider it my duty and sense of my life to do everything for Russia for its presents and future-for the peaceful and prosperous future-and the welfare of every Russian family”, said Putin during his oath ceremony.
Putin also promised to pursue an economic agenda to boost the living standards across the country.
"Now, we must use all existing possibilities, first of all for resolving internal urgent tasks of development, for economic and technological breakthroughs, for raising competitiveness in those spheres that determine the future", he said in his inaugural address.
Putin's fourth presidential term comes after he easily won the Presidential elections in March, receiving 76 percent of the votes.
Earlier, speaking to government ministers on Sunday, Putin laid down the main challenges and tasks that lie ahead of his coming Presidential tenure.
"Our key task for the next few years is a significant raise of the citizens' real income", he said according to a Kremlin press release.
A former KGB spy, Putin for the first time rose into national prominence in 1997 when he was made chief of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the main successor of the KGB by former President Boris Yeltsin. Putin was appointed the Prime Minister of Russia in 1999 and in the same year, he became the acting president of the country following Yeltsin's resignation. In 2000, Putin was elected President for the first time and served two four year-terms till 2008. He was barred from running for a third consecutive term but stunned everyone by returning to power, this time as the prime minister.
In 2012, Putin was re-elected as the president for a tenure of six years under the new law. He was declared the President for the fourth time after he won the presidential elections in March by a landslide margin. Putin's name will now become engraved in the record books as one of the longest-serving rulers, just behind the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
Earlier on Sunday, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and more than 1,500 demonstrators were detained by police during street protests across Russia against Putin ahead of his oath-taking ceremony. However, Navanly has been released from police custody.
(With inputs from AP)
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