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 new government's first meeting on May 15 sprang its first surprise. Vladimir Putin decided that the government should turn a page.
Who leads the Putin-Medvedev tandem? We have long to wait before we see. Russia has a new national political sport. Before December, we played who's-next. Now, it is the no less exciting who's-boss.
Last week Vladimir Putin returned to the post which was his stepping stone to the presidency eight years ago. Vedomosti has tried to find out how much he has changed as a politician over the years.
Vladimir Putin's Cabinet is destined to be the most open of all, and the most loyal toward the other power branches and institutions of civil society. One can read it between the lines of his address to parliament as it appointed him Prime Minister on May 8. If his is to be a "technical government", the way it was under previous Prime Ministers, Putin will be unable to implement the ambitious plans he has drawn for Russia.
On May 8, 2008, Vladimir Putin, appointed Prime Minister by the State Duma, was to submit his programme to the Government, instead of instructing the Government on what to do, which used to be more common for him. The most attractive issue for investors was a promise to reduce taxes for oil companies, although that had been Mr Putin's order to the former Government. The new Cabinet is more interested in stock market regulations and the efficiency of public spending. Though the work on the health care and education reforms will start only in 2009.
Many thought that Mr Putin would be supersensitive to the formal downgrading of his former status. However, all those who watched the ceremony realised that he was quite pleased with his current unofficial status. First, his prestige and leadership remained immutable. Second, the same team was at the wheel, and finally, Putin merely changed his presidential position for a weighty post of the prime minister.
