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
Traders yesterday fell a few kopecks short of testing the Central Bank’s promise to keep the national currency at the level of 41 roubles for a two-currency basket. Trading at MICEX closed yesterday with the dollar at 36.2 roubles, but the Central Bank was unperturbed. And indeed, nobody chose to attack the rouble, which has approached the announced limit, and it is even less likely today: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin explained the day before that the issues of additional capitalisation of banks and currency speculation would be linked.
The economic crisis and the gas war with Ukraine overshadowed some notable shifts that have been happening in the relations between Russia and the West in recent weeks. Russia, for the first time recently, took real steps to normalise the relations: It resumed dialogue with NATO and announced that it would not deploy its Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad Region.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held a meeting with Siemens AG President Peter Löscher,and President of the state corporation Rosatom Sergei Kiriyenko at the White House yesterday. The meeting sent an important signal to the world nuclear industry. The Prime Minister said that Rosatom and Siemens were ready for a full-scale strategic partnership in the nuclear energy field. The fact that the announcement was first made by Mr Putin and not by the immediate parties involved, shows that the decision has high-level support. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to express her position on the issue at a meeting between the German energy agency and Russia’s Mosenergo in Berlin today. “We are ready to pass on from one-off projects to forging a full-scale partnership between Siemens and the Russian Rosatom. We could work actively both in Russia and in Germany, as well as in the markets of third countries,” Mr Putin said.
Transport Minister Igor Levitin spent three days in Sochi to inspect transport infrastructural construction and summarised what he had seen for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and an International Olympic Committee delegation.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin managed to demonstrate his fluency in German at the 74th International Green Week Berlin exhibition, Volgograd Region Governor Nikolai Maksyuta told a press conference. The exhibition took place January 16 through 25 in Germany.
On February 2, Cuban President Raúl Castro met with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as part of his visit in Moscow. The meeting summed up the remarkable results of the Caribbean state leader’s visit, with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreeing to grant multi-million dollar state loans to Cuba. Interestingly, it is reported that the sum finally agreed by the two presidents turned out to be 18 times higher than initially planned.
Many think that the Kremlin owes its consolidated power and dominion over the public to nothing but exorbitant oil prices of the recent years. But then, Vladimir Putin received public support even when oil went for $40 a barrel. He started as the President of Hope and a clever psychotherapist who would say nothing that might upset his patients.
The concept of "Russia as a safe haven" was presented at the Davos forum a year ago. It was assumed then that amid the world financial crisis, which was widely expected, the Russian markets would remain stable. "Interest in Russia as an island of stability will grow," the Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin was trying to convince the world economic elite. "The US economy is on the edge of recession and world economic growth is slowing down," he said.
The April 2009 deadline for the start of the active phase of the construction of Olympic facilities may not be met. Independent experts think that the authorities have not yet put in place the legal framework for a civilized approach to the confiscation of land owned by Sochi’s residents for the building of Olympic facilities.
The election of the Patriarch the Russian Orthodox Church proved that, for all its flaws, it was a far more vibrant and democratic organism than the Russian state. The contest for the throne of the Patriarch was far more dramatic than that for the presidency and attracted almost as much interest.
The crisis makes its own corrections in social and economic plans and government promises. Some of them become impracticable even in theory. Among such promises is the task set by then President Vladimir Putin in July 2003 of doubling the country’s GDP within ten years. Even then, many economists doubted that this task was feasible. However, using some adjustments and forced argument, a formula was devised which, it seemed, made it possible to receive the desired effect. It was decided to take the year 2000, not 2003, as a reference point: at that time, the economy was growing exponentially after the 1998 crisis due to the effect of the poor economic base. Several months ago Vladimir Putin confirmed his forecast and promised a doubled GDP by late 2009 or early 2010. However, the latest forecasts and data of the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) show that the present government will have to take this promise off the agenda.
For politics. The past week saw two significant events, the first of which was a big surprise and the second had been widely expected. Vladimir Putin's peace-loving speech in Davos about the dangers of government interference in the economy gave the impression of having nothing to do with the way the Russian Government had behaved for many years.
Last weekend saw the most massive street rallies over the financial crisis in recent times. The opposition called for the resignation of the Putin Government. United Russia activists took to the streets to defend their leader. No clashes between civilians occurred but several dozen opposition protesters suffered as a result of provocations and in clashes with the police.
The biggest protest rally took place in Vladivostok, where 2,500 people marched down Svetlanskaya Street defying an official ban. The Communists, joined by car-owners' movement activists carried posters addressed to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin: "Vlad, out" and "Putler Kaput".
On NOVATEK's Board of Directors. Gennady Timchenko, co-owner of the Swiss Gunvor, may become a member of the board of directors of Russia's biggest independent gas producer, NOVATEK, Kommersant has learnt. He will replace the former Anti-Monopoly Policy Minister Ilya Yuzhanov.
A year ago Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin, addressing the Davos Economic Forum, said that Russia was an island of stability in the ocean of the world crisis. This year, considering that the crisis is raging in Russia as well, the marine metaphor had to be tweaked a little bit. First, the delegation to the forum was led by the captain himself, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Second, in his keynote speech the latter described the world crisis as a "perfect storm" that had caught Russia in its epicentre along with other countries. The main question that everybody wanted answered was whether the world would be able to survive the raging elements and stay afloat and what the losses would be.
On February 3, 2009, the Supreme State Council of the Russia-Belarus Union State will meet in Moscow to endorse a plan of joint action aimed at overcoming the consequences of the crisis. On January 30, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Sergei Sidorsky signed the relevant document at a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Union State.
Vladimir Putin takes IOC Chairman for a ride on Sochi's new road. The visit of high-ranking International Olympic officials to Sochi ended with a display of admiration.
Davos offered further proof that the whole world was intently watching Russia and Vladimir Putin. The reaction to the Prime Minister's behaviour is, more often than not, negative.
OAO Rostelecom and OAO Megaphone became the first Russian sponsors of the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi. A sponsorship agreement was signed with the Sochi-2014 Organizing Committee on Saturday. It is a record sponsorship contract at the national level worth $260 million. In addition, the companies will invest $200 million in the development of Sochi's telecom infrastructure.
The recent statement by the Prime Minister’s spokesman to radio Voice of Russia that it is natural for a President to criticise the Government’s work has highlighted several important points in Russian politics. “It is only natural for a President to criticise the Government, and it doesn’t mean there is a conflict,” Dmitry Peskov said. The reason for his statement was the host’s question about several criticisms by President Dmitry Medvedev of the Government’s slow implementation of the adopted anti-crisis policies.
In the first quarter of this year, AFK Sistema plans to make big purchases worth "billions of dollars." "We'll have big purchases in this quarter requiring billions of dollars," said Vladimir Yevtushenkov, chairman of the board and Sistema's main shareholder, in the back rooms of the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 29, 2009.
On Wednesday evening, Mr Putin made the opening speech at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland’s foggy Davos after Russia was invited to open the forum for the first time. All forum delegates showed up for his policy speech. This proves that the world’s business elite, which is scared stiff of the crisis, was eager to hear Mr Putin’s ideas.
National Bolshevik activists Sergei Grebnev, Ravil Bashirov, and Yevgeny Markin attempted to seize Vladimir Putin's public reception office on Konnogvardeisky Boulevard in St Petersburg yesterday as they demanded to see him for a discussion of anti-crisis measures. They entered the office unhampered, occupied a room, opened its windows, and hoisted black National Bolshevik flags.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s opening speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos will become a subject of many discussions far beyond Switzerland. The Russian Prime Minister has proposed what amounts to a new world order, which will replace the existing uni-polar world with the only leading nation and a single reserve currency.
Vladimir Putin mentioned excessive economic expectations in his speech, but then similar expectations were associated with the Prime Minister's speech itself.
Addressing the International Business Council at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sent a clear message to the administration of US President Barack Obama. He said a new page in bilateral relations could be opened by abolishing the Jackson-Vanik amendment.
The present-day global financial and economic crisis must persuade policy-makers to opt for an entirely different global economic regulation system. However, this extremely simple concept is hindered by an intricate conflict of interests
Each meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) leaves a mark in history and not necessarily an economic one.
There were even more heated discussions during the second day of the World Economic Forum (WEF). Although he did not take part in the plenary sessions, Vladimir Putin, just as a day earlier, was the main newsmaker of the day.
Members of Parliament want to hear the annual Government report in two stages in April. First, the State Duma will take two weeks to consider the written report, and then will hear Prime Minister Vladimir Putin deliver it.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with the International Business Council at the Davos forum yesterday. The 115-member council includes six Russian businessmen, among them German Gref, President of Sberbank, Ruben Vardanyan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Troika Dialog, Oleg Deripaska, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Basic Element, Alexander Izosimov, Director General of VimpelCom, Andrei Kostin, President of VTB, and Alexei Mordashov, Director General of Severstal.
The World Economic Forum opened in Davos yesterday. Its main subject matter is the coordination of efforts in tackling the world financial crisis.
On Wednesday, the world’s most prestigious economic forum started in Davos.
Yesterday, the Premier of the Chinese State Council, Wen Jiabao and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin opened the annual session of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Prime Minister arrived in Zurich yesterday evening with almost an hour delay due to the fog in Moscow. During the three-hour-long flight, Mr. Putin read through the speech that he was preparing to present in Davos, proofreading the text and making last minute corrections. He continued editing the text on his way to Davos, as well.
Chairman of the Cuban State Council and the Council of Ministers of Cuba Raul Castro arrived in Moscow yesterday. He will be staying in Moscow for a whole week and will meet with President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who will return from Davos before Mr Castro’s departure from Moscow. According to Kommersant’s information, the Cuban leader is hoping to receive a $250 million loan from Moscow and sign a series of agreements “in various fields of cooperation”.
Participants in the World Economic Forum in Davos, whose official opening took place yesterday, stated clearly the causes of the global crisis. However, none of them has a recipe on how to emerge from it. Vladimir Putin, who opened the Davos forum, does not have it either.
The World Economic Forum in Davos will start tomorrow, January 28, and for the first time this prestigious event will be opened by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who will present a half-hour opening speech.
"What has been happening in Ukraine in recent years has been the result of moves made by the previous US administration and the European Union ... What we have heard in recent years instils certain cautious optimism. Those close to Obama say there is no need to hurry with a missile defence. We welcome such statements." - Prime Minister Vladimir PUTIN in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
The Nizhny Novgorod branch of the ruling Yedinaya Rossiya (United Russia) party has been discussing the possibility of establishing a special fund that would provide material assistance to the visitors of Prime Minister Putin’s Public Liaison Office. The party’s leadership reacted negatively to the initiative.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited Veliky Novgorod, where he toured the world's largest plant for the production of mineral fertilisers, Acron. There, Mr Putin held a meeting on the problems facing the industry's agro-chemical sector. In the second half of 2008, its output dropped by 30%.
In a Sunday interview with Bloomberg Television, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin expressed "cautious optimism" about relations between Russia and the United States. Mr Putin said he was picking up "certain signals" indicating that Barack Obama is going to change US foreign policy priorities, especially those concerning the deployment of a missile defence shield in Europe and NATO membership of Ukraine and Georgia.
Before the New Year, Georgi Siromashki, a Bulgarian pensioner in the town of Ruse, Bulgaria, always laughed at his Sofia pal Khristo Lozev: Even he, Georgi, living in the provinces, had gas, while Lozev, although a resident of the capital, was still using wood and coal to keep his house warm. Now, it is Georgi who envies his friend. During the Russian-Ukrainian gas conflict he had to sleep in two sweaters and spend his entire pension on an expensive electric heater.
MICHAEL PETERS, a design and branding consultant and head of the Michael Peters and Partners (MP&P) company, is confident that now is the time for Russian companies to invest in their brands. In an interview with RBC Daily correspondent ALEXANDER KLENIN, he said the Russian market had a big potential and described how Russian top managers could succeed abroad.
Mikheil Saakashvili has at last discovered Georgia’s main enemy. It is Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. “Since Shah Abbas Georgia has never had such a vigilant enemy as Putin,” Saakashvili said on Friday, speaking live on Georgian television. The telecast lasted four hours, during which the President answered questions from the nation. The most often asked question was this: “Misha, when are you going to resign?”
On January 19, Prime Minister Putin instructed the ministry of finance to revise the 2009 budget, proceeding from the average oil price of $41 per barrel and the dollar exchange rate of 35 roubles for one dollar. Despite the fact that even these estimates appear too optimistic, the rouble started to appreciate against the dollar in the foreign exchange market last week. Some experts even believe that a new economic and currency policy has been launched in the country.
Russia is a great power and it is now as powerful as ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union; but what does it have to offer to other people? For Russians, Putin represents an era of relative prosperity, whereas for Europeans his image is rather terrifying.
Vlast is analysing the results of the 4th quarter and the entire 2008. While 2007 gave the answer to the question who the next russian president was going to be, 2008 can be called the year when some myths were dispelled.
Party leaders will be elected for two terms. However the new rule will not apply to Vladimir Putin or Boris Gryzlov. The initiative to establish party leadership rotation and reduce the minimum party size requirement comes from President Medvedev. According to Vladimir Pligin, Committee Chairman for Constitutional Legislation, the draft law instituting the above provisions has been prepared by the Presidential Executive Office and will be submitted to the Duma shortly. Mr Pligin, who participated in the consideration of the draft law last week, said that the size requirement for registering a party was to be reduced from 50,000 to 45,000 people, and within one to two years the limit would be further reduced to 30,000.
