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
The Government is no longer able to work under the terms of the current Budget Code, which prescribes stringent limitations on using oil and gas revenues and on the budget deficit level. It has been decided to use the Reserve Fund to cover the deficit. Amendments to the Budget Code were discussed yesterday at the Government’s meeting. “The current terms have served us well; the balanced budget policy has ensured macroeconomic stability and allowed us to completely resolve the foreign debt issue, which amounted to 150 billion roubles in January 2000,” Prime Minister Putin said, praising the Cabinet’s work during the last 9 years.
The Prime Minister was shown unique ship-testing basins.
Whether or not more Government members will be sacked, Igor Sechin's influence continues to grow
Municipal elections have shown that the United Russia Party is more of a liability than an asset for candidates.
An opinion poll conducted by Levada Centre in February has revealed that Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev’s approval ratings are 48% and 36%, respectively. In February 2008, on the eve of the presidential elections, the ratings were 62% and 39%. Over the course of the year Vladimir Putin’s rating dropped by 22.6% and President Medvedev’s by 7.7%, which sociologists attribute mainly to the economic crisis. According to some forecasts the crisis may last for 2 to 3 years, until the next presidential elections, due in 2012.
The first meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and new US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held in Geneva on Friday merely ticked off the problems piled up in bilateral relations. The two sides stated that the links between Russia and the United States were “overloaded” and needed to be “reset”, an operation that will be carried out by a permanent bilateral commission co-chaired by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and US Vice President Joseph Biden.
Sergei Sobyanin cuts Government Staff for the second time in six months.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is completing the reform of the Government Staff. The National Projects Department has been shut down and the staff will be cut by 10%.
There is no doubt that our President wants Russia to be a lawful and free country. One has to be a naïve cynic (cynics are often naïve) to think that anyone can say, “Freedom is better than non-freedom” while thinking to himself, “How easy it is to cheat these fools”.
The first months of the crisis put a halt to the talk of an imminent population explosion that the country’s leaders have been predicting for a number of years. The baby-boom was a pet topic of former President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The problem was also a major plank in Dmitry Medvedev’s election platform. Toward the end of 2008 both leaders were pleased to note the growing birth rate and the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development was confidently making optimistic forecasts. However, over the past few months the topic has never been raised at the high level and experts claim that the country is facing a demographic slump.
