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
In December 1999, nearly eight years ago, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made his first visit to Uzbekistan. Five months later, after he was elected president, Putin made his first official foreign visit to Uzbekistan. On September 1, 2008, he again arrived in Tashkent, this time as prime minister. On this visit, Uzbek President Islam Karimov himself came to meet him at the airport, ignoring the tacit rules of protocol.
On September 1, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin addressed professors and students of Far Eastern universities in Vladivostok and tried to dispel several new political rumors. He said Russia would not deliver less oil and gas to Europe, that it was still planning to hold the 2012 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vladivostok, and that it did not want to start a new Cold War with the West.
Hardly any other politician is as popular among his people as Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister and former President. The people see him as an unquestionable leader who bravely defends his country; suffice it to mention how staunchly he stood up for Russian interests last week. Few doubt that he is superman and a legendary knight all in one.
Arriving in Vladivostok on September 1, Vladimir Putin went from a plane to a helicopter that was headed for the taiga. The whole purpose of the exercise was to see the Ussuri tigers, and the buzz is that thanks to the Prime Minister, tigers, or rather the scientists who watch them, now feel much more comfortable.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin does not seem to think it is necessary to react to the harsh statements of Western politicians who call on Russia to respect the territorial integrity of Georgia. They even hint to bad consequences in the case of continued intractability. The Russian President, however, thinks the opposite, and has spoken much on the subject. Experts' explanations of the Prime Minister's behaviour have been quite varied.
The war with Georgia may have been Vladimir Putin's personal project. There are both objective and subjective reasons for that. Speaking about subjective factors, it will be recalled that the "pro-American" Eduard Shevardnadze used to be the Kremlin's enemy, while Mikheil Saakashvili had come to power with Vladimir Putin's support.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has fulfilled the tasks set under the concept of social and economic development through 2010, as he told the Government meeting at Novo-Ogaryovo on Friday. Therefore, he said, "the need has arisen to look further ahead, to look 10 years ahead to the period from 2010 to 2020."
This August, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin publicly attacked the pricing policy pursued by the Mechel Group, one of Russia's largest mining and metals companies. However, his criticism cost the company much less than to Mechel shareholders and the Russian stock market.
When Vladimir Putin assured the nation that he would not run for a third presidential term and would not amend the Constitution to suit himself, many had a sneaking mistrust. During his eight years of leading Russia, he has acquired vast political experience, which the country needs now more than ever. As a result, one theory that circulated within the analytical community was that the Russian President must not leave politics and might even become the head of the Russia-Belarus Union State. After a change of power did take place at the Kremlin, however, some claimed that the "Putin era" was over and that he would gradually ease out of politics.
Today marks the first 100 days of Putin's premiership. It is not a long period by the measure of history or indeed compared with Putin's 8 years as president, but the direction or the "trend," to use the prime minister's favourite word, can already be discerned.
Today marks the first 100 days of Putin's government. Vladimir Putin's first 100 days fall easily into what was before and after August 8. But that watershed is not as clearly marked as in Medvedev's presidency.
The main intrigue of the United Russia congress in November may well be whether or not the Prime Minister will join the party. On Friday it will be Vladimir Putin's first 100 days as the party's leader. And yet the ex-President is not officially a member of the party. Experts believe that the main intrigue of the Party's congress in November may well be the leader's acceptance or non-acceptance of membership of the Party he leads.
The end of the political season - the last ten days of July - was particularly indicative in that way. Dmitry Medvedev tried to wrap up the decade at a meeting in Gagarin. There he called on government officials of all levels "to stop making life a nightmare for business" and said that his speech was "giving a signal". He firmly believes that signals are very important in Russia.
Whether it was necessary for Prime Minister Putin to give a public flogging, in front of TV cameras, to the head of Mechel, Igor Zyuzin, who was not in attendance because of illness, and then, unperturbed by the fact that it had caused a slump in the stock market, continue the public flogging, is a question that cannot be answered by simply saying that Zyuzin had done something wrong.
Party life in Russia is sizzling. I am not talking about the purge of the ranks of the United Russia party and the brainwashing of its members. I am referring to a very curious precedent: Vladimir Putin has taken to holding meetings with the leaders of parliamentary parties.
Vladimir Putin seems to have settled down to his job of prime minister and has moved on to manual control of the economy in the same way as he was manually building the vertical power structure as president. First the Prime Minister was in the front ranks of the advocates of a drastic cut in the VAT, now he is preparing to solve in one fell swoop the problem of pension savings that are managed by the state.
The new Cabinet is a month old. Putin's Cabinet of Ministers was formed a month ago, on May 12, a baby Cabinet. But unlike a human baby who at this age wants nothing but his mother's breast, the Government has no time to grow up, to learn about the world and find its place in it. A baby has all its life ahead of it, it has his parents to care for it, but the Cabinet, even though it is a month old, has itself to take care of a huge and difficult country which it must feed, keep warm, and provide with money.
Russian and foreign observers are awaiting with bated breath for signals from the Kremlin and the Government House. They scrutinize the vocabulary and tone of Medvedev's utterances (seemingly liberal) and his (still somewhat stiff) demeanor. They make much of the expression on Putin's face during Medvedev's inauguration (allegedly an expression of suffering and confusion). They make a careful count of how frequently Medvedev and Putin are mentioned in the media (Medvedev has the lead). And of course they study the reshuffles in the top echelons of power (still totally confusing). Nobody knows anything for sure, everybody is just guessing whether Medvedev will preside over a "thaw", how long the current "dual power" situation will last and in general what will happen in a year's time and in 2012. No guesses are made as to what will happen beyond that date.
Yury Ushakov, former Russian ambassador to the United States, was appointed deputy chief of Government staff on May 31. This means that Vladimir Putin's staff will include a strong foreign political department. More than that, it will, to all appearances, have direct links with the US Administration. Prime Minister Putin continued to strengthen his foreign political positions at the start of June, before his visit to France. A commission for admittance of overseas investors to strategic fields of the Russian economy will be established. Mr Putin ordered it to be drawn up in an address to a Cabinet meeting.
During his visit to France last week Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was treated as the country's leader. In fact, as our special correspondent Andrei Kolesnikov attests, Vladimir Putin himself said in France that the Russian leader will be the leader of the ruling party.
