Vladimir Grigorievich Yankin was born in the village Maly Lomovis in the Pichaevsk district of the Tambov region of Russia in 1936. He graduated from the P.P. Benjkov Art School in Tashkent in 1966. He has exhibited his work in regional and zonal exhibitions since 1972. He has been a member of the Artists’ Union of Russia since 1995.

Some of Yankin’s works are kept at the Tambov Regional Art Museum. He lives and works in Tambov.