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
Russlands Regierung fürchtet den Rückschritt: Die Wirtschaftskrise gefährdet die seit Jahren anhaltenden Konstanten Wachstum und Wohlstand. Weil ihr die wirtschaftlichen Probleme über den Kopf wachsen, sucht die russische Führung nun verstärkt die Kooperation mit den westlichen Ländern.
Yo, Barack. Over here! - That's the New Year's message blaring from the Kremlin as U.S. President-elect Barack Obama prepares to assume office. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin may no longer head a superpower nation, but they are determined not to be overlooked as world leaders beat a path to the Oval Office.
When a top economic adviser to Vladimir Putin approached his boss in September to argue that the rapid fall in the oil price meant he would have to devalue the rouble, the answer was a firm nyet. "He said he would not be the prime minister of devaluation," one insider said.
During this Christmas season most people wish for peace on Earth and goodwill for their fellow man, but not the rulers of Russia.
Like the Great Depression, the spectre of that financial meltdown, when vast swaths of Russia's middle class saw their savings wiped out, has haunted the population ever since. But unlike North Americans, for whom the Dirty Thirties are a historical relic from another time, Russians experienced this calamity but a decade ago.
The Russian-German Nord Stream pipeline that would run under the Baltic Sea was due to be completed in the coming months, ready to deliver gas by 2010. Once in operation, it would be the realization of Russia's dreams to reduce its dependency on troublesome transit countries, such as Ukraine. It would also be the crowning of the special relationship between Russia and Germany. Nord Stream would run from Vyborg, near St. Petersburg, touching land at Greifswald, on Germany's north-eastern coast. But as of this day, construction has not even begun.
Few U.S. presidents have come to office facing quite the variety of crises that Barack Obama faces, so he may be tempted to put Russia on a back burner - especially as Vladimir Putin is not someone with whom many Americans want to build cooperative relations these days.
Earlier this week, police responded violenty to demonstrations in Russia's Far East over higher import tariffs for cars. The protesters carried signs imploring Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to drive a Volga (a Russian-made car), instead of a Mercedes--a relatively tame demonstration that made the police response all the more unusual. Now a Kremlin official has given some insight into the government's concerns that the country's rising unemployment and slowing economy is leading to social unrest.
"The current situation may aggravate the protest mood caused by discontent among the country's working population over unpaid wages or the threat of layoffs, as well as unpopular measures implemented as part of the anti-crisis program," the government's deputy interior minister, Mikhail Sukhodolsky, was quoted by TradeTheNews.com as saying Wednesday. Later on in the day, a Kremlin official said that a budget deficit in 2009 was likely. It would be the first in a decade.
"Financial Crisis: Recession has left many of the world's worst-run economies in roughly the same condition as General Motors. Russia is one of them, and the World Bank thinks they're going to need a bailout. Not so fast."
