Putin's 1st Inauguration - 2000 | Today In History | 7 May 17

On May 7, 2000, President Vladimir Putin took the oath of office in Russia’s first democratic transfer of power. Vladimir Putin took the oath of office, becoming Russia's second democratically elected president at a lavish ceremony in a former czarist throne room in the Kremlin. Putin took the oath in the ornate Andreyevsky Hall as hundreds of top officials and political leaders watched. Standing next to him was Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin.