Who is Vladimir Putin and why is he so determined to take Ukraine?

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Who is Vladimir Putin and why is he so determined to take Ukraine?
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Seven months after invading Ukraine, experts say Vladimir Putin's reputation is at stake. So just who is the Russian leader, and what is his end game?

, as it launches referendums in held regions of Ukraine on joining Russia.

“This is not a bluff,” Mr Putin said in a televised address on Wednesday, as he renewed his threat to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia. He previously served for 15 years as a foreign intelligence officer in the KGB - the foreign intelligence and domestic security agency of the Soviet Union. After his second term ended, he served as prime minister before becoming president again in 2012, due to Russia’s constitution limiting the president to two consecutive terms.

"As Putin is becoming increasingly attached to being in power ... Russia has become increasingly authoritarian at the same time." John Blaxland, Professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies at the Australian National University, said Mr Putin "brought order" and provided prosperity as held onto power, largely sustained off the back of Russian oil and gas.Why is he determined to take Ukraine?

In 2014, Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown after he refused to sign a European Union association agreement. He cited pressures placed on him by the Russian government to place distance between the EU and Ukraine. They call Russia’s actions an unprovoked, imperialist land grab and an attempt to reconquer a country that broke free of Moscow's rule with the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Mr Putin’s recent announcements followed a setback for Russian forces, who have been driven from areas they had captured in northeast Ukraine in a Ukrainian counter-offensive this month and are bogged down in the south. "That's significant because it's Russian territory that is what is explicitly covered by Putin's declarations about the potential for the use of nuclear weapons," he said.

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