| With less than three weeks left before the presidential election in Russia, President Vladimir Putin has fired the Prime Minister. The surprise act by Putin removes the last major holdover in the Russian leadership from the era of Boris Yeltsin. In the Russian government, the Prime Minister primarily is responsible for economic policy in the nation. In point of fact, the removal of the Prime Minister also resulted in the dismissal of the rest of the government ... although Putin can reappoint any of them that he so desires. The move is seen as bolstering Putin's authority and the power of those around him -- who are mostly former KGB agents. A complete makeover of the country's leadership is now expected. The Prime Minister was a staunch supporter of the business tycoons who many in Russia are disdainful of. The move in dismissing the Prime Minister is expected to increase the wide lead Putin already enjoys in pre-election polls.
Putin in History:
Putin was one of the organizers of the Russian-American "Goodwill Games" and during that period, he met Ted Turner, a major American businessman in the field of media.
Since 1993, Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, during his trips abroad, made Vladimir Putin as acting Mayor in his place.
In March 1994, Vladimir Putin was appointed first deputy chairman of the Government of St. Petersburg, retaining the post of head of Committee for foreign relations. As deputy chairman of the Government of St.Petersburg, Putin was responsible for the coordination and interaction of the Mayor with territorial bodies of power and law enforcement agencies (police, Ministry of Defense, FSB, prosecutors, courts, Customs Committee) and also political and social organizations. The Registration Chamber and City Hall: Justice, public relations, administrative bodies and hotels were under the jurisdiction of Putin.
In 1995, he became the head of the regional branch of the party "Our Home is Russia".
In addition to the Foreign Relations Committee, Putin also headed the Mayor's Committee on operational matters.
The main achievements of the Committee for Foreign Relations under Putin, a former deputy of his, now chairman of Central Election Commission of Russia, Vladimir Churov stated:
Opening of the first representative offices of western banks in St. Petersburg;
The creation of investment zones "Parnassus" and a zone in Pulkovo Heights; "Coca-Cola" became the first major foreign investor by opening its first plant in 1995.
The completion of laying fiber-optic cable in Copenhagen, which provided quality international telephonic service to St. Petersburg.
On the initiative of Putin, the opening of the Faculty of International Relations in St. Petersburg State University.
Subsequently, many of those who worked with Vladimir Putin St. Petersburg City Hall (I.I. Sechin, D.A. Medvedev, V.A. Zubkov, A.L. Kudrin, A. V. Miller, G.O. Gref, D.N. Kozak, V.P. Ivanov, S.E. Naryshkin, V. L. Mutko etc.), in 2000, have assumed influential posts in the government of Russia, The Russian presidential administration and management of state companies.
In 1992, the parliamentary working group, headed by the Leningrad City Council under Marina Salye and Yuri Gladkov (the so called "Salye Commission") against Putin as chairman of Foreign Relations Committee, charging him with fraud in connection with a barter program, supplying St. Petersburg with food in exchange for raw materials. According to the group, due to the initiates of Vladimir Putin, the city's losses amounted to 122 million dollars. The council of St.Petersburg approved the group's report and recommended Anatoly Sobchak to dismiss Putin and transfer the case to the prosecutor. According to Putin himself, in fact, an investigation was not conducted by the Salye Commission and "there was nothing and none to be prosecuted". According to Putin, this scandal was used by the deputies of the Leningrad City Council to act on Anatoly Sobchak to dismiss him.
In June 2008, during the police detention of several Russian citizens in Spain, the attention of some media was again drawn to earlier publications, related to Putin's relations in the 1990s with Vladimir Kumarin, the alleged head of the "Tambov" gang, who was arrested in August 2007 on a charge of heading the given criminal gang.
Work in Moscow:
In just three years, Vladimir Putin has gone on to become the Secretary of the Security Council from the post of Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff.
Since August 1996, after the defeat of Anatoly Sobchak in the Governor's election, Putin was invited to work in Moscow as the Deputy of Pavel Borodin. While working, Putin supervised the legal department and the Presidential Administration of Russia.
On March 26, 1997, Putin was appointed deputy chief of the Russian Presidential Administration - Chief of Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management, succeeding Alexei Kudrin.
According to Putin, results of the Main Control Directorate of inspection, related to the execution of defense contracts, has become one of the reasons for the resignation of Russian Defense Minister Igor Rodionov in May 1997.
In 1997, as head of the Main Control Directorate, Putin constituted a special commission to verify the effectiveness of Russian fisheries. As a result, the commission found: "In 1997, a catch of 6500 tons of salmon fish by drift method by Japanese vessels (prohibited by Resolution of UN General Assembly in 1991) and 3300 tons of fish species by Russian vessels, working on scientific programs, has led to the overfishing of lake sockeye salmon and actually put the coastal companies of the Kamchatka region, exploiting its resources on the brink of bankruptcy. "After completion of the commission, fishing borders were changed in accordance with the findings of the commission and over the next decade, the sockeye salmon catch has increased several folds - from 2500 to 20000 tons.
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