FACTBOX - Vladimir Putin - his years in power

REUTERS - Russian President Vladimir Putin's party won a big victory in Sunday's parliamentary election, exit polls showed.

Putin, 55, is riding high on an oil-fuelled economic boom and soaring popularity from a no-nonsense approach that has restored national pride with a big military build-up and verbal attacks on the West reminiscent of the Cold War.

Here are some key facts about Vladimir Putin:

* Putin was born in Oct 1952, in St. Petersburg, then called Leningrad. A former KGB spy in East Germany, he rose to head the KGB's successor organisation FSB before being chosen as prime minister by the late President Boris Yeltsin in August 1999.

* He took over as acting president when Yeltsin stepped down in Dec. 1999. After a huge PR campaign to build a profile for the relative unknown, he was elected president in March 2000.

* He has overseen a steady concentration of power within the Kremlin walls, sidelining the political opposition and imposing tight control on the media. This has caused his Western critics to question his democratic credentials.

* He has played to his power base in the security forces and military by using barrack-room language and by fostering a tough-guy image. Before the poll, he told Western governments to keep their "snotty noses" out of Russia's affairs.

* Delivering on a vow he made when first elected president in 2000, he has crushed the Chechen rebellion for now, though sporadic attacks continue on Russian forces.

* His years in power have been marked by a significant rise in living standards, helped by soaring oil prices, but large sections of the population still live in poverty.