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
Few years in Russian history were as eventful as the last year of the 20th century. A young and active president launched half a dozen reforms, routed separatists in the Caucasus and declared deregulation of the economy. The impressions of Putin the reformer outweighed the aftertaste of Putin who was building a vertical power structure and distancing himself from the oligarchs.
The mayoral run-off in Murmansk will take place on March 15. The headquarters of Mayor Mikhail Savchenko and his rival, Regional Vice-Governor Sergei Subbotin, are accusing each other of resorting to bureaucratic clout and mudslinging. Meanwhile, Murmansk Governor Yury Yevdokimov is angry that he has been made party to this “smear campaign” and insists he is not resigning.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin spent yesterday in Novokuznetsk, a city where the snow is black and mines are experiencing serious difficulties. The Government Commission on Regional Development also met for its session there, but for Mr Putin it was equally important to see with his own eyes how an industrial city was struggling amid the crisis.
Election time is a period when certain politicians lose all sense of measure. If they have nothing to show to the electorate, they boast of their friendship with celebrities. Sergei Subbotin, a candidate for the post of Mayor of Murmansk, is running his campaign under the informal slogan of a Putin pal. True, as it often happens, it is unlikely that the Prime Minister knows his self-named friend and associate from Adam.
Yesterday, Hungary’s Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány arrived in Moscow to meet with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The parties discussed the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline to be laid through Hungary, bypassing Ukraine. The pipeline is expected to be commissioned in 2015. A corresponding agreement was signed yesterday between Gazprom and its Hungarian partners.
The Finance Ministry estimates that in 2011 the Government will need to resort to foreign borrowings to cover the budget deficit.
Russia and Hungary have agreed the principles of a joint company to build the Hungarian section of the South Stream pipeline. At the same time, however, Hungary explicitly lends its support to the rival alternative to South Stream – the Nabucco pipeline. Experts, however, believe that capacities of both pipelines will not be needed for over ten years due to the decreased demand for gas.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany at the Government Reception House yesterday. Our special correspondent Andrei Kolesnikov thinks it was the most nervous meeting with a European representative since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian gas crisis.
Governors will be persuaded to cut expenses by one trillion roubles.
During Boris Yeltsin’s presidency, there were several attempts to reform the civil service. In December 1991, the Chief Directorate for Civil Service Personnel Training was established, which developed a civil service reform concept and a number of draft laws. The Directorate, however, was disbanded after two and a half years. In July 1995, the law On Civil Service Principles in the Russian Federation was adopted. It was a framework law, which required numerous clarifications. In 1997, attempts at reform were continued by an expert group headed by Presidential Advisor Mikhail Krasnov. The group prepared 12 reform concepts however they were never realised due to frequent Government changes.
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.
