A quarter-century ago, on August 9, 1999, Russian President Boris Yeltsin picked Vladimir Putin as prime minister and anointed the then little-known former KGB operative as his successor, urging Russians to vote for him in the presidential election the following year.
Putin has been president or prime minister ever since. After eight years as president, he stepped back into the No. 2 position in 2008-2012 to avoi
