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 governors who lost their posts were not effective administrators. It is good to change the management sometimes. We have many regional heads who obviously should be dismissed, beginning with [Sergei] Darkin. Therefore I do not see big politics behind these resignations. This should have been done long ago. Vladimir Putin could not take risks, but Dmitry Medvedev has to do it because of the crisis. Besides, he is starting to feel like he is in command now."
By proposing the candidacy of Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev for the post of Governor of the Voronezh Region, President Dmitry Medvedev confirmed the rumours about Mr Gordeyev’s impending resignation which have been in the air since May 2008. Mr Gordeyev was appointed Minister when Vladimir Putin became President in August 1999, and he is the first Minister of Mr Putin’s second Government to be leaving the White House. For almost ten years, Mr Gordeyev was not only a Government member, but also a representative of the agrarian lobby in the White House.
Last Tuesday, the day after the Munich Conference, Russia's representative to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, called a press conference to express his views on the "resetting" of Russian-American relations heralded in Munich by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. The Russian representative said he was very pleased that Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili, who attended the forum, had not been given the floor.
Early opinion polls show that while financial reserves are dwindling, confidence in the Prime Minister and the President is not.
Legendary killer Alexander Solonik was known to have had a soft spot for the Austrian pistol "Glock 17". The personnel of the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee will now look every bit like the heroes of Hollywood thrillers, as last week Prime Minister Vladimir Putin extended the list of weapons that prosecutors and investigators were allowed to use. They will now be able to carry 9-mm Glocks, Chezetas and Berettas under their armpits.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul came to Russia on an official visit Friday. Ankara and Moscow are important economic partners for one another. Mutual trade between them stood at about $34 billion last year. As President Dmitry Medvedev noted, that indicator has increased 35 times in the past 10 years, but the two countries have more ambitious plans.
Economic relations between Russia and the European Union need political support, Russian Prime Minister and leader of the United Russia Party Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Head of the European People's Party - European Democrats Jozeph Daul on Friday.
Below is another in our series of articles under the common heading "Where Our Money Ended Up". In the previous issue we assessed the cost to the Government of bailing out the banking system and the amount that the banks got during the course of that operation. Today we will look at which companies and why have been designated as "strategic".
The Constitution vests the President with colossal powers and leverage. Besides, the Kremlin walls have always possessed a kind of magic due to which the incumbent of the top office in the land, however weak he may be, builds up political muscle by the hour and quickly becomes the unchallenged leader in the country. Is Dmitry Medvedev the first exception to that rule or does he just need some more time?
Through cautious actions and half hints... Dmitry Medvedev has been getting rid of his image of docile partner of his influential predecessor... It has been suggested that their relations have soured under the pressure of the economic crisis gripping the country.
