Putin, in power for 20 years, 'has become a kind of brand' Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. The departing Yeltsin was casting around for a successor and few could have predicted that two decades later Putin would still be ruling Russia, having taken on a dominant role in world affairs. "Putin has become a kind of brand,' says political analyst Konstantin Kalachev tells AFP, adding that the leader is deeply attached to 'his role in history.' IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES