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
When Vladimir Putin stepped down as president of Russia last May, he left little to chance. Just as his predecessor Boris Yeltsin had anointed him, Putin made sure that his loyal protégé of 20 years, Dmitry Medvedev, would take his place. Putin took the helm of the country's dominant political party, United Russia, and then, as prime minister, expanded that position far beyond what the Constitution envisions. Although Putin rearranged the musical chairs, he continued to call the tune. Until now.
Whispers of a split between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his handpicked successor, President Dmitri Medvedev, have grown louder over the past few weeks. The economic crisis is putting pressure on the ruling duo to show they're on top of things. It may also be exacerbating their differences.
The global meltdown is threatening U.S. orchestras, which rely on corporate and individual giving to survive, said Russian conductor Valery Gergiev. Gergiev -- artistic and general director of the Mariinsky Theatre (the former Kirov) in St. Petersburg -- is also principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. He is on a two-week, coast-to-coast LSO tour of the U.S. (sponsored, except for the New York leg, by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Japan's biggest drugmaker).
Priekšvēlēšanu cīņa par iespēju saimniekot Melnās jūras kūrortpilsētā Sočos varētu izvērsties daudz interesantāka nekā pagājušogad notikušās Krievijas prezidenta vēlēšanas, kuru iznākums bija skaidrs jau labu laiku iepriekš. Vairāki pazīstami Krievijas politiķi izteikuši vēlmi piedalīties Soču mēra vēlēšanās, kas notiks 26.aprīlī. Pretendentu vidū ir opozīcijas kustības Solidaritāte līderis Boriss Ņemcovs, krievu miljardieris Aleksandrs Ļebedevs, kā arī bēdīgi slavenais Andrejs Lugovojs, kurš Lielbritānijā tiek turēts aizdomās par aģenta Aleksandra Ļitviņenko noindēšanu.
Leave it to Russia's Vladimir Putin to do the unexpected. The wily former KGB officer who resigned to head Russia's domestic intelligence and counter-espionage service (the FSB) before becoming president, specializes in puzzling western critics.
The candidates may have barely announced that they are entering the contest, or drafted their manifestos, yet the victor of the race to be next mayor of Sochi is already pretty much in the bag.
Spot the split is the current favourite game in Russia as Kremlin-watchers look for evidence of division between President Medvedev and his mentor Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister.
To those of us who live and work in Hollywood, movies are always the perfect gift. So we're puzzled to read about the controversy that erupted when President Barack Obama gave British Prime Minister Gordon Brown a collection of classic movie DVDs.
Vladimir Putin, Russia's prime minister, on Thursday announced that Moscow would go easy on Ukraine in enforcing the terms of their bilateral gas deal, in a surprise sign of improving relations between Moscow and Kiev.
L'opposition manifeste timidement, les associations dénoncent une régression des Droits de l'homme et des libertés...
Le dégel des relations américano-russes a beau être dans l'air depuis que la secrétaire d'Etat américaine Hillary Clinton a offert à son homologue russe Sergueï Lavrov un jouet de plastique orné d'une touche «Relance», en Russie, les sentiments antiaméricains ont encore de beaux jours devant eux.
L'opposition radicale à Vladimir Poutine peine décidément à mobiliser. L'hétéroclite coalition L'Autre Russie avait appelé jeudi à une nouvelle manifestation pour réclamer la démission du premier ministre et la liberté de protester dans plusieurs villes russes. À Moscou, le rendez-vous donné aux militants dans une station de métro s'est soldé par une débandade. Le mouvement n'avait pas jugé utile cette fois de demander l'autorisation de manifester, prétextant les refus quasi systématiques essuyés par le passé. Pour parer à d'éventuels désordres, pas moins de quatre mille policiers étaient mobilisés dans le centre de la capitale, selon l'agence Interfax.
No 'Put in' jibes allowed? Then we'll pull out! A Georgian pop group said Wednesday it would bow out of the Eurovision Song Contest, refusing to scrap lyrics punning on Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's name.
En parcourant les dépêches des agences de presse du 6 mars 2009, un titre épatant vole la vedette aux autres : « Gorbatchev vilipende Poutine » ! Quoi ? Serait-ce un persiflage de notre intelligence, une fumisterie de journaux sans ragots pour remplir leur page ou site internet ? Mais non ! Pour de vrai, Gorby, gueule de bois sec d'un occident en crise et en quête de diversion, défraie burlesquement la chronique sur l'ère Poutine accusé de reprendre les pires horreurs du soviétisme, au grand secours et plaisir des fringales de médias sans substance pour nourrir la désinformation interne en Occident. Alors, le vieux Gorbatchev, véritable insecte moribond jusqu'à date, comme un zombi, comme un revenant, et, par la faculté de certaines coquerelles saprophytes à la reviviscence, renaît en force parmi les miettes idéologiques antirusses de l'occident qu'il a tant aidé à détruire son propre pays sous prétexte de réforme. Car la réforme était indéniablement indispensable en Union Soviétique oscillant alors entre une gérontocratie bureaucratique et un stalinisme anachronique. Toutefois, réformer un État se fait dans la réflexion interne, la concertation avec les acteurs de l'intérieur et en usant des moyens réels dans les structures et cela en prenant tout le temps qu'il faut.
Talk of a Medvedev-Putin rift is no longer only talk, as the economic crisis already pulls the two further apart regardless of their intentions, but any rumor of the conflict producing an open split is highly premature, writes Robert M Cutler for ISN Security Watch.
Shortly before he was sent to a Siberian prison in 2005, Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky seemed willing to take on the mantle of a martyr for political freedom in Russia. With his business empire destroyed and his vast fortune gone, he nevertheless vowed to continue his fight against Vladimir V. Putin, then Russia's president, from his prison cell.
"God preserve us from the Russian Uprising, senseless and merciless." The line from poet Alexander Pushkin was quoted to me often by Russians in the dark days of the early 1990s when the Motherland had fallen from grace, communism was collapsing and millions were pitched into unemployment and poverty. Romantic souls, bleary-eyed, would tell me how Russians were born to suffer: to suffer the piercing winter frosts of a vast land, the predations of war and invasion, the shortages, the harshness of their masters. The Russian would suffer patiently, silently; that is, until he could take no more.
The wrong man is in the dock at the second trial of former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. It should be President Dmitry Medvedev. His crime? Failing to break the vengeful grip of his mentor Vladimir Putin, on a case that has become a symbol of political abuse and corruption in Russia.
Vladimir Putin's regime is fighting for its political life. That's the good news. But the bad news is that the Obama administration is sending out mixed messages that may help the Russian autocratic regime survive.
Pirmdien apritēja apaļš gads, kopš Krievijas prezidenta amatā tika ievēlēts iepriekšējā prezidenta Vladimira Putina izvirzītais un atbalstītais Dmitrijs Medvedevs. Medvedevam sākās iesildīšanās laiks - formāli līdz inaugurācijas ceremonijai maija sākumā. Taču šķiet, ka tas nebeigsies līdz pat nākamajām Krievijas prezidenta vēlēšanām.
A top Russian official rejected calls to ease tight control over politics, moving to squelch growing speculation that the deepening economic crisis could lead the Kremlin to loosen its grip.
Russia's financial crisis is beginning to destabilise the delicate Kremlin power balance, with a struggle between rival clans eroding Vladimir Putin's authority and aggravating his relationship with his protege, President Dmitry Medvedev.
«Comme d'habitude, le peuple russe est patient et passif...» Vladimir Klitchenko, 60 ans, victime parmi d'autres de la crise, juge avec scepticisme la réaction de la population. A Krasnoïarsk, grande ville de Sibérie, cet ingénieur s'est retrouvé au chômage après la faillite de son employeur, la compagnie aérienne locale. Avec ses camarades, il descend désormais régulièrement dans la rue. Pour protester contre son licenciement. Mais aussi pour manifester sa colère contre la gestion de la crise par le gouvernement de Vladimir Poutine.
Russia in recent weeks has used its apparent financial clout both to knock an American back out of Kyrgyzstan and to solidify its relationship with Kazakhstan. But recent economic data suggests that when it comes to assistance to Central Asian states, the Kremlin may be running a geopolitical Ponzi scheme -- guaranteeing returns that it will not be able to produce.
THE toughest challenge Americans face in dealing with Vladimir Putin's Russia is that we insist on complicating the obvious. Putin's schemes are plain as day, but we insist on polishing up his motives.
Despite a sharp economic downturn that has left almost six million Russians out of work, the country's prime minister and former president, Vladimir Putin, remains unusually popular. While his ratings have declined recently, 74% of Russians still approve of the job he is doing, according to a survey this month by the state-run pollster, Public Opinion Research.
The high-powered gathering took place in the woods outside Moscow at a tsarist hunting lodge built, bizarrely, to look like a German medieval castle, now property of the Kremlin. Guarded by posses of armed bodyguards, Russia's richest men arrived in chauffeur-driven Bentleys, armoured BMWs and the odd Maybach, a £300,000 custom-made limo.
Until the recent global financial crisis, Russia's eco¬nomic revival during the presidency of Vladimir Putin had helped to restore the country's standing as a major player in the world arena. Yet, prosperity has come with some unintended consequences. Russia's inva¬sion of Georgia was fueled by Russia's economic growth and newfound wealth.
C'est le genre de scènes que Vladimir Poutine redoute de voir se multiplier à travers son immense pays. En ce jour de février, une petite poignée d'une quinzaine de mécontents, bien emmitouflés sous leurs chapkas et leurs foulards colorés de babouchkas, piétine dans la neige. Devant le petit immeuble de l'administration du district de Toutaev, ils réclament la baisse des prix du gaz et de l'électricité, la hausse des retraites et des allocations-chômage. À quatre heures de route au nord de Moscou, sur les rives de la Volga prise par les glaces, Toutaev, 40 000 âmes, compte parmi ces centaines de petites villes russes suspendues au sort d'une unique entreprise, frappées au cœur par la crise.
It was early summer 2007. The delegates of the International Olympic Committee had gathered in Guatemala to decide the venue of the 2014 winter Olympics. For Vladimir Putin it was a high-stakes moment. In a speech delivered in English and French Putin made a passionate plea for Sochi, Russia's Soviet-era Black Sea holiday and skiing resort - promising mountains, misty forests and of course lots of snow. To the joy of Russian delegates, and of Putin, Russia's inscrutable president, Sochi won.
Vladimir Kirillov and Vitaly Sukhinin and their co-conspirators once had little interest in politics. They were rat-a-tat-tat salesmen here in Russia's Far East who did a thriving trade in secondhand vehicles imported from Japan. But then the government reacted to the financial crisis by imposing steep tariffs on their industry.
Barack Obama wants to make friends with Russia, "press the reset button" as his Veep proposed the other day.
Czy podczas wiosennej wizyty Putina w Warszawie dogadamy się z Kremlem? Jak zwykle nie - pisze w komentarzu Piotr Gursztyn. Dlaczego? Bo Rosja nie jest i nie będzie zainteresowana partnerskimi stosunkami z Polską. A polskie władze, licząc na zbliżenie, grzeszą naiwnością - dodaje Gursztyn.
La volonté de Barack Obama de régler les conflits dans lesquels les Etats-Unis sont engagés a conduit Washington à tendre la main à Moscou. Mais les dossiers sont si complexes que les négociations risquent d'être longues.
The symptoms of financial meltdown so far-emaciated 401(k)s, bankruptcies, layoffs-haven't been easy to handle in the U.S. But Americans aren't the only ones feeling the pain. Anger over the worsening global economy boiled over last week resulting in protests in Greece, France, Latvia and Britain. At issue are rising prices, shrinking incomes and the disappearance of jobs. Fears that economic unrest will lead to political instability are widespread, says Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, a political-risk consulting firm, and Russia and China figure prominently in many forecasters' nightmare scenarios.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev revived a long-dormant human-rights council and invited a handful of Kremlin critics to join, the latest in a series of small gestures toward political openness in recent weeks.
Huge cranes at enormous construction sites in Moscow stand idle as investors walk away. Russian auto workers are confronting mass unemployment just as the stock market and the ruble plunge precipitously. Protesters, in small but growing numbers, are demonstrating across Russia, demanding economic relief. And a distinguished group of Russian economists meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev warned him of impending economic catastrophe.
Moscú tiene una concepción tan sumamente aleatoria del derecho internacional, los derechos humanos, el asesinato de periodistas y el comercio energético, que bien subraya la bizantina fragilidad de Europa.
Obama's response to this barely veiled blackmail needs to be cool and pragmatic.
With Recent Moves, Medvedev Edges Away From Prime Minister and His Economic Policies.
It wasn't Putin at the Abba tribute show - he's more of a Beatles man anyway
WHILE Western leaders remain mired in 20th-century thinking, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of Russia has reinvented dictatorship for a new century. The new czar's creation is tolerant totalitarianism.
Vladimir V. Putin's Russia has become so controlling that political and economic liberalization may be an essential part of engineering an economic recovery here, a close aide to President Dmitri A. Medvedev said Monday.
Insider trading in Russia is widespread but offenders are rarely caught.
Al termine del discorso pronunciato giorni fa da Putin al Forum di Davos, il primo da due anni a questa parte senza più toni arroganti né allusioni minacciose, gli interrogativi s' accavallavano. Come bisognava spiegarsi le parole concilianti del primo ministro russo, la sua esplicita e improvvisa apertura a migliori rapporti con l' Occidente?
Russia has lost an empire and not yet found a role. As we approach the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we should pay tribute again to the fact that a nuclear-armed superpower surrendered its vast continental empire with scarcely a shot fired. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, many Russians have been regretting that act of historic magnanimity ever since.
The Russian economy, already pummelled by falling oil prices, trade disputes with neighbours and fleeing investors, took another step towards the abyss yesterday as the country's credit rating was downgraded. Russia is the first G8 nation to have suffered a downgrade since the start of the global financial crisis.
Amid economic crisis and political feuding, the Kremlin invites Gorbachev to share his thoughts. President Dmitry Medvedev has even taken to criticizing his mentor and prime minister, Vladimir Putin.
In its recent disputes with Georgia and Ukraine, Russia has been crashing around like a bear in a china shop. As a result, the west has been hyperventilating about the dangers of Russia's resurgence and a new cold war. But as the global financial crisis and collapsing commodity prices shake Russia's economy and strain its political system, the west may soon be worrying again about the country's weaknesses rather than its strengths.
Before the fall of communism, arms control was the yardstick by which all East-West relations were measured. Soviet-US détente produced a series of agreements to cut back the huge nuclear arsenals of each superpower. But although the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the nuclear stand-off remains. And the recent worsening in Russia's relations with the West, together with the expiry in December of the crucial 1991 Start pact to reduce nuclear warheads, has again made arms control a vital component of global security. It is an issue that President Obama now seems ready to tackle with an urgency not seen for two decades.
