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.
Registered unemployment dropped for the first time since monitoring began (in October 2008) in the last week of April by 0.7% to 2,268,000, a spokesman for the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development announced yesterday. Just last week Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the weekly growth of unemployment had slowed down from 9% in January-February to 1.6% in March-April.
The idea of introducing a unified tax on real estate instead of the current property and land taxes can only be described as new by a stretch. This keeps cropping up every time bureaucrats are faced with the question of how to replenish local and regional budgets. The idea has been revived by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who proposed introducing it as early as 2010, but at differentiated rates so that the owners of expensive “investment” real estate should pay more and the owners of more modest accommodation get some preferential treatment.
Teachers from all over Russia have presented a 13-point Programme of Anti-Crisis Measures for 2009 (ACM-13. 9) to the Government. The financial crisis is no excuse for saving on education, but the teachers decided it can certainly justify putting some of the more unpleasant reforms on hold.
This year the government allocated money for retraining of 216,000 unemployed workers.
The approval ratings of Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin dropped to a record low over the past year, according to an opinion poll conducted by Levada Centre from April 24th to April 27th. Still, they enjoy the support of the majority of Russians: 68% of respondents approve the President and 76% of the Prime Minister.
According to the Interior Ministry, about 30,000 people participated in May Day demonstrations and rallies in Moscow, which is less than City Hall had expected. Government authorities had approved 32 applications for demonstrations from pro- and anti-government supporters, and had expected up to 70,000 people to assemble. Demonstrators in one part of the city chanted “The Putin Plan is a plan for victory” while those in another part called for taking power from the Prime Minister’s Government.
The President has decided to personally present his budget proposal to the Federal Assembly at a meeting of the Government Presidium. Dmitry Medvedev did not reveal the details of the upcoming proposal, but the most important member of the audience, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, has already unveiled some details during his visit to the Astrakhan Region last week.
Dmitry Medvedev has rearranged the Far Eastern administration and appointed the Governor of the Khabarovsk Territory as his Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District, replacing Oleg Safonov, who has been transferred “to another job.” Mr Medvedev’s candidate for Governor is Viacheslav Shport, a former State Duma deputy and regional industry minister.
“The atmosphere was fraternal, they almost embraced each other.” This was how the Russian Ambassador to Ukraine, Viktor Chernomyrdin, described the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Yulia Tymoshenko, the first after the January “gas war.” Viktor Chernomyrdin would not say this without reason. Not that Moscow easily forgave Kiev for signing the “Brussels accord” with the EU, an agreement that excluded Russia from the plan to modernise the Ukrainian gas transportation system. Yet the two countries are bound together. In other words, the main supplier of gas to Europe and the main transit country have no option but to make peace and come to terms. The question is what sort of terms. This mutual dependence is the secret of Moscow’s new “love formula” with Kiev that has let it down more than once.
After the first of May, businessmen will get a hiatus from unscheduled inspections by police, fire officials, sanitary and medical officers and consumer rights agencies. As of May 1st, such visits must be agreed upon with the local prosecutor’s office and can occur only after official authorisation.
