VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
On May 7 of last year, Dmitry Medvedev was inaugurated as President of Russia. On the next day, May 8, Vladimir Putin was confirmed as Prime Minister. How has the country lived through this year under a two-man tandem? What difficulties did the tandem face? How is it taking the country out of the crisis? What challenges will it have to meet in the near future?
During his first presidential year, Russia’s third President tried to address two problems: to remain true to the course set out by Russia’s second President, Vladimir Putin, and to cultivate his own political style. So far, Mr Medvedev is succeeding on both tracks.
It has become a tradition in Russia: a person elevated to the highest post in the country changes beyond recognition. Vladimir Putin was two different persons at the start and finish of his presidency. Dmitry Medvedev has altered both as a personality and as an executive in the 12 months since his inauguration. To obtain a more nuanced picture of these changes, Izvestia has invited political psychologists to comment on the country’s two leaders.
Today marks a year since Dmitry Medvedev was inaugurated as President. Yet despite all this time he was unable to draw clear dividing lines between his powers and those of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
The Prime Minister has discussed sports and space industry plans for the next decade.
A source close to the Government of the Irkutsk Region says that the regional authorities are negotiating the sale of East Siberian Gas Company (VSGK) to Rosneft for 3 billion roubles.
Oleg Morozov, First Deputy Speaker of the State Duma:
“Is it all that important? However, if Russia hosts the championship, Putin will be given the credit. It is not proper to ask who will be President in 2018. Mr Medvedev and Mr Putin will themselves decide who will be fit to be the President”.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is determined to do everything to ensure that the 2018 World Football Championship is awarded to Russia. On Tuesday Mr Putin met with the Minister of Sport and Tourism, Vitaly Mutko, setting him a very concrete task: “Prepare an application for Russia to host the 2018 World Football Championship”.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has supported Russia’s bid to host the World Football Championship in 2018. Government officials have yet to estimate what the event would cost. Experts are sure it will cost more than the Sochi Olympics.
The first result of the anti-crisis programme is that President Dmitry Medvedev has admitted that the injection of 175 billion roubles of budget money into the stock market last autumn had been a mistake and brought no results. It is good that the country’s leader is so honest. But the ease with which mistakes costing hundreds of billions of roubles are made is alarming. One has the impression that under the pretext of combating the crisis officials take decisions easily in the hope that failures would be attributed to the crisis.
