Vladimir Putin is made an honorary member of the scientific council of the law faculty at St Petersburg University, January 2000.

The widow of Anatoly Sobchak cries while Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila comfort her during civil funeral ceremony in St Petersburg, February 2000.

From left to right: Putin, Yeltsin, Gorbachev and Brezhnev, spotted in Moscow, March 2000.

Vladimir Putin now has his own place in the museum of wax figures in Moscow, April 2000.

The rubber version of Vladimir Putin appearing in NTV's satirical "Kukly" programme, May 2000.

Vladimir Putin receives a pot of pickled mushrooms during his trip to the Samara region, September 2000.

A page from a recently-published book for Russian children about Vladimir Putin carries pictures of Putin as a small boy and as president, October 2000.

Vladimir Putin and Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko in central Minsk, October 2000.

Waxwork artist Anatoly Ustsov works on a wax head of Russian President Vladimir Putin for a travelling exhibition of life-sized celebrity sculptures, December 2000.

Vladimir Putin puts on robes after receiving an honorary doctorate from the Slav University of Baku, January 2001.

Vladimir Putin holds a Spartak soccer club shirt with his name on it which he got from the team's coach Oleg Romantsev, January 2001.

Hollywood star Jack Nicholson gestures as he talks to Vladimir Putin late June 27, 2001, outside Moscow.