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Further Reading

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

Vladimir Putin was born in Leningrad on October 7, 1952. In 1975, he graduated with a degree in law from Leningrad State University. He later earned a Ph.D. degree in economics. After graduation, Mr. Putin was assigned to work in the KGB. From 1985 to 1990, he worked in East Germany. In 1990, he became assistant to the rector of Leningrad State University responsible for international affairs. His next position was an advisor to the chairman of the Leningrad City Council. In June 1991, he became chairman of the St. Petersburg City Council's International Relations Committee and, starting with 1994, he combined this post with the position of First Deputy Chairman of the St. Petersburg City Government (First Deputy Mayor).

In August 1996, he was appointed deputy head of the President's Administrative Directorate (Property Management Directorate). In March 1997, he became deputy head of the Executive Office of the President (Presidential Administration) and head of the Central Supervision and Inspections Directorate. In May 1998, he was promoted to first deputy head of the Presidential Administration. In July 1998, he was appointed director of the Federal Security Service and, as of March 1999, he combined this position with that of Secretary of the Security Council.

In August 1999, he was appointed Prime Minister. On December 31, 1999, he became acting President. On March 26, 2000, he was elected President of Russia and was inaugurated as president on May 7, 2000. On March 14, 2004, he was elected President of Russia for the second term.

Some had spoken of Vladimir Putin's "creeping coup" against the forces of democracy and market capitalism in Russia. Putin eliminated independent media by imposing restrictive laws. These led to the takeover or arbitrary closing of all independent national television channels. The international media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders ranked 166 countries in its annual World Press Freedom report. Russia came in 148th.

Security enforcement in the "war against terrorism" consists of harassment of those perceived as "persons of Caucasian nationality" - a blurry category of assorted non-Russians. The "war against corruption" has focused on a series of high profile prosecutions of wealthy Jewish Russian oligarchs [such as Berezovskiy or Khodarkovskiy], for alleged violations of commercial and tax laws. And the "war on drugs" gradually degenerated during the 1990s, focused on the drug dealer (baryga in popular slang), namely, the "Gypsy" [roma].

The administrative and legal obstacles to civil society organizations reduce the prospects for human rights. In 2004, Putin triggered an offensive against human rights organizations when a presidential speech on 26 May 2004 used language reminiscent of the Soviet era. Putin said that foreign "political, economic and media pressure" was being used to weaken Russia's ability to competing globally. Rather than defending "the real interests of the people", Putin said that the priority of some independent groups is "getting financing from influential foreign and domestic foundations, while others serve dubious group and commercial interests".

Putin asserted control over Russia's energy industry and used government power - including imprisonment - against executives who oppose him. The world has watched with concern over his single-handed attempt to put Russia's largest privately held oil company out of business.

With the quagmire of the war in Chechnya and the series of terrorist attacks in recent years -- of which the most serious to date have been the October 2003 hostage taking in a Moscow theater and the September 2004 school hostage massacre in Beslan, North Ossetia -- an increased preoccupation with security at all levels of public life was taken for granted by the public.

After Beslan, the coup was no longer creeping - it was running full steam ahead. President Putin used the horrific Beslan attack to consolidate autocratic rule. Putin's reforms were not a result of Beslan, but were a directed effort to expand the power of an already top-heavy presidential administration. The measures that were announced by Putin and were described as anti-terrorist measures were in fact planned long before Beslan. The President had planned for months to centralize political authority, and merely took advantage of the Beslan seizure to unveil the decision.

The total effect of President Putin's new proposals was to move Russia a long way down the road to autocratic rule.

• He eliminated the popular election of Russia's 89 regional governors, and instead appoint them himself, subject to confirmation by regional legislatures. If a regional legislature fails to confirm the president's nominee three times, the legislature may be dissolved. Regional leaders in power whenthe law entered into force in 2004 were given the option of either serving out their elected terms or resigning early and seeking a presidential appointment to serve a new term. . Putin's initiative to take control over the appointment of regional leaders could lead to future problems because Russia does not have effective political parties that act as transmission belts for the rising generation. The problem with having the presidential administration vet every key leadership position in Russia is that it is very easy to tell the leader what he wants to hear. It eliminates an important check and balance against corruption.
• He eliminated independent members of parliament, so that Russians could vote only for political parties rather than specific candidates. Political parties - like the powerful one headed by Mr. Putin - would determine the slates. In the December 2003 elections, district races accounted for every independent and liberal serving in the Duma. Under Mr. Putin's plan, these races were abolished. The 2005 election law specified that, for future national elections, the State Duma will be chosen strictly on the basis of party lists. Electoral blocs will be banned and the threshold for a party to be represented in the State Duma will be raised to 7 percent of the vote. According to some experts, the laws worked to the disadvantage of parties not currently represented in the State Duma.

Both of these initiatives expanded the already strong ability of Putin to recruit a new power elite.

Supporters of Putin's policy of "recreating the vertical system of power" said that they would abandon skin-deep facade democracy in the name of genuine democracy that would facilitate the political and spiritual recuperation of Russia. After destroying the Soviets in 1993, Boris Yeltsin created elected authoritarianism with a democratic facade. And now Putin was trying to rationalize democracy in order to control the country and save the social fabric. In Russia, which has never had civil society before and where the living standards of the majority of the population are poor, elections often became a farce. Public politics and electoral democracy outstripped the real interests and requirements of the bulk of population. Thus the nation was largely been indifferent to the debates on the election procedure and the appointment of heads of Federation entities, as it had no bearing on the life of ordinary people.

On 01 October 2007 President Vladimir Putin said he could become prime minister in 2008, if the United Russia party wins the December 2007 parliamentary elections, and that he will head the pro-presidential party's list. "Heading the government is realistic, but it is too early to consider it," Putin said at a party congress in reply to a proposal from United Russia to head the government. He added that this would be possible under two conditions. He said the first condition was United Russia's victory in the lower house, State Duma, elections in December 2007, and the second is the election of an efficient person to the post of Russian president in March 2008. In a news conference at the Kremlin on 10 December 2007, Putin sat at a table with Medvedev, United Russia party leader Boris Gryzlov, A Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov, the leader of the Civil Force Party and the Agrarian Party. Gryzlov said he offered his support for Medvedev and Putin assented. "I fully support this candidacy," he said. The next day, Medvedev said, if elected, he would ask Putin to serve as his prime minister.

Since May 8, 2008, Vladimir Putin has been Prime Minister of Russia. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was widely expected to return to the job for a third term after President Dmitry Medvedev in September 2011 agreed to step aside, in a job swap with Putin. The Putin-Medvedev job swap plan was unveiled 24 September 2011 at a congress of Russia’s ruling United Party. The congress immediately rubber stamped it.

Vladimir Putin favors choreographed politics, like the nominating convention on November 27, 2011 of the ruling United Russia party, where he won 614 of 614 votes cast for the nomination to return to the presidency. Russia’s upper house of parliament formally set 04 March 2012 as the date for the country’s presidential election. Once Putin was elected president again, the 59-year-old could serve another two terms. Russia’s constitution was recently changed so the President can serve six years. Putin could remain in power until 2024, with four terms for a total of 20 years, making him the longest-serving leader since dictator Joseph Stalin, who ruled Russia for 30 years until he died in bed [Leonid Brezhnev ruled a mere 18 years].