| On May 25, 1998, Putin was appointed First Deputy Chief of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, supervising the functioning with regions. By the time of his appointment, Putin was regarded as one of the most influential figures in the Kremlin.
Since July 25, 1998 Putin was Director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. Putin appointed generals Nikolai Patrushev, Viktor Cherkesov and Sergei Ivanov as his deputies, whom he was familiar with while working for KGB in St. Petersburg. In autumn 1998, Putin reorganized the FSB. When Putin was Director of the FSB, he abolished the FSB counter-intelligence on economic and counterintelligence support to strategic sites and in place of them, created six new FSB offices. Putin received uninterrupted financing for FSB as well as a hike in salary for FSB employees (in this respect, salaries were at par with salaries for employees of Foreign Intelligence Service and Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information).
Since March 26, 1999, Putin was appointed Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, while retaining the post of Director of the FSB.
By early May 1999, President Yeltsin decided to transfer his powers to Vladimir Putin. During a meeting with Putin on August 5, Yeltsin informed that he wanted to appoint Putin as Prime Minister.
In 1997, Vladimir Putin defended his Ph.D. dissertation in economics with a thesis on "Mineral and raw materials resources and the development strategy for the Russian economy" in St. Petersburg's State Mining Institute. Putin's guide was a Doctor of Economic Sciences V. A. Fedoseev - a renowned expert in the field of economics of mineral raw materials.
Struggle for Power:
In 1999, corruption and serious criminal charges against Yeltsin were raised by the opposition including the popular group at that time, Luzhkov - Primakov and an open threat of court proceedings were also sounded by the group. In the press, a version came out that "Operation Successor" was conducted in 1999 – a set of measures by the "Family" for Putin's presidency. According to this version, Boris Berezovsky played a key role.
Vladimir Putin's presidency:
On December 31, 1999, after Yeltsin's premature resignation, Putin took charge of Acting President of the Russian Federation. On the same day, symbols of presidential power, including the "nuclear suitcase" were handed over to Putin. The first state act, signed by Putin as Acting President of the Russian Federation, was the decree "On guarantees for former president of the Russian Federation and members of his family". The decree stated that an immunity guarantee would be provided to the former Russian Presidents (Boris Yeltsin was the only one at that time).
Since March 26, 2000, Vladimir Putin was elected President of the Russian Federation. He took the oath of office on May 7, 2000.
In May 2000, Putin appointed Mikhail Kasyanov to the post of Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
On February 24, 2004, he dismmissed the cabinet of Mikhail Kasyanov, calling his work "satisfactory on the whole". Putin appointed Mikhail Fradkov as the new Prime Minister.
On March 14, 2004, Vladimir Putin was re-elected as President of the Russian Federation for the second term. He took the Presidential oath on May 7, 2004.
On September 12, 2007, after the resignation of Mikhail Fradkov, Putin appointed Victor Zubkov as Prime Minister.
On May 7, 2008, Vladimir Putin handed over the powers to Dmitry Medvedev, elected president and former chief of administration. Some days before this, Putin occupied 2nd place in the list of the "100 most influential people of the world" by Time.
Position in mass media:
During the Presidency, Putin was charged with suppressing independent media. In particular, he was associated with the so-called affairs of NTV and TV-6, the closure of ТВС, the closure of independent newspapers or the replacement of their owners. During the Presidency of Putin, several journalists were killed and Russia in the "Freedom rating" by the organisation "Reporters Without Borders", put Russia at 144th place in 2008 in the list of 173 countries, which participated in the rating.
Vladimir Pozner considers, that during Putin's presidency no journalist was imprisoned and gives him the following characteristics: "He can be contacted, he's a wonderful listener, remarkably attentive, tactfully reacts to what you speak, witty and intelligent. But, according to my point of view, he is reserved and does not trust anybody. It is said that, he is loyal to those whom he takes into his group, never dismisses them and can only transfer them. Even after events in the Ukraine, Abkhazia … During the Yeltsin era, ideally, when there was more freedom of expression and democracy in Russia, bedlam and crisis existed in the country. It is clear that Putin, in his own way, is attempting to put things in order. He worked in the KGB, and headed FSB. He cannot be termed as a democrat but he is not exactly a dictator".
Criticism of the socio - economic policy:
During meetings of All-Russia protests against the monetization of social benefits, numerous resolutions were taken, according to which, the continuous deterioration of economic parameters and indicators of the standards of living was observed during Putin's presidency. The newspaper "Soviet Russia" observed that, there is an increase in inflation, the rouble depreciation in domestic market, the actual incomes of the population have come down, there's a rise in unemployment, prices on foodstuffs and industrial goods, and tariffs on energy resources and public utilities was witnessed. In subsequent editions, the newspaper also reported that the government is not doing enough for the social well-being of the population. |
An old photo from 1988 made news this week. The photo shows U.S. President Ronald Reagan meeting Russian tourists on Red Square in Moscow. The "tourists" turned out to be disguised KGB members and their families, and one of them (the funny guy on the left) was none other than Vladimir Putin (then a KGB colonel) - so says Pete Souza who took the picture. Mr. Souza now works as the U.S. President Barack Obama's official photographer.
