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Vladimir Putin Владимир Путин
President of Russia
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 May 2012
Prime Minister	Viktor Zubkov (Acting) Dmitry Medvedev
Preceded by	Dmitry Medvedev
In office 7 May 2000 – 7 May 2008 Acting: 31 December 1999 – 7 May 2000
Prime Minister	Mikhail Kasyanov Viktor Khristenko Mikhail Fradkov Viktor Zubkov
Preceded by	Boris Yeltsin
Succeeded by	Dmitry Medvedev
Prime Minister of Russia
In office 8 May 2008 – 7 May 2012
President	Dmitry Medvedev
Deputy	Igor Shuvalov
Preceded by	Viktor Zubkov
Succeeded by	Viktor Zubkov (Acting)
In office 16 August 1999 – 7 May 2000 Acting: 9 August 1999 – 16 August 1999
President	Boris Yeltsin
Deputy	Viktor Khristenko Mikhail Kasyanov
Preceded by	Sergei Stepashin
Succeeded by	Mikhail Kasyanov
Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union State
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 May 2008
Preceded by	Position established
Leader of United Russia
In office 1 January 2008 – 26 May 2012
Preceded by	Boris Gryzlov
Succeeded by	Dmitry Medvedev
Personal details
Born	(1952-10-07) 7 October 1952 (age 59) Leningrad, Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg, Russia)
Political party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Before 1991) Independent (1991–1995) Our Home-Russia (1995–1999) Unity (1999–2001) Independent (2001–2008) United Russia (2008–2012) Independent (2012–present)
Spouse(s)	Lyudmila Aleksandrovna
Children	Mariya Yekaterina
Alma mater	Leningrad State University
Signature
Website	Official website

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Пу́тин; IPA: [vɫɐˈdʲimʲɪr vɫɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ ˈputʲɪn] ( listen); born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician who has been the President of Russia since 7 May 2012. Putin previously served as President from 2000 to 2008 and as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000, and again from 2008 to 2012. Putin also serves as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when president Boris Yeltsin resigned in a surprising move. Putin won the 2000 presidential election; in 2004 he was re-elected for a second term lasting until 7 May 2008.

Because of constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was ineligible to run for a third consecutive presidential term. After his successor Dmitry Medvedev won the 2008 presidential election, Putin was nominated by Medvedev to be Russia's Prime Minister; Putin took office on 8 May 2008 and a period of so-called "tandemocracy"^[1] followed. In September 2011, Putin and Medvedev agreed he should seek a third, non-consecutive term in the 2012 presidential election, which he won in the first round on 4 March 2012.^[2][3]

Putin claims to have overseen a return of political stability and economic progress to Russia, ending the crisis of the 1990s.^[4] During his presidency, the Russian economy grew for nine straight years, seeing GDP increase by 72% in PPP (sixfold in nominal),^[5][6] poverty decrease by more than 50%,^[7][8] and average monthly salaries increase from $80 to $640.^[5][9] These achievements have been ascribed by analysts to strong macroeconomic management, important fiscal policy reforms, surging capital inflows, access to low-cost external financing and a five-fold increase in price of oil and gas which are the majority of Russian exports.^{[10][11][12][13]} The fast formation of the modern middle class in the country, the 2.3 times increase in real incomes between 2000-2011 as well as improvements in healthcare and public order allowed Russia to achieve the highest level of life expectancy in its history.^[14]

As Russia's president, Putin passed into law a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes.^[12][15] As Prime Minister, Putin oversaw large scale military reform and police reform. His energy policy has affirmed Russia's position as an energy superpower.^[16][17] Putin established a number of national champions, i.e. state corporations which oversaw the restoration of high-tech industries in the country (such as nuclear industry and defence industry). A significant rise in foreign investment^[18] contributed to a boom in such sectors as the automotive industry. Economic megaprojects which Putin endorsed have included the construction of major export pipelines, the restoration of the global satellite navigation system GLONASS, and the building of infrastructure for international events held in Russia.

In Russia, Putin's leadership has mostly enjoyed considerable popularity, with generally high approval ratings;^[19] as Prime Minister, Putin's approval rating was 52 percent in January 2012, according to the state-run pollster VTSIOM.^[20] However, many of his actions have been characterised by the domestic opposition as undemocratic.^[21] Western observers and organisations have also voiced criticism of Putin's leadership. The 2011 Democracy Index stated that Russia has been in "a long process of regression culminated in a move from a hybrid to an authoritarian regime" under Putin,^[22] and American diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks allege that Russia has become a "virtual mafia state" due to systematic corruption in Putin's governance,^[23][24] allegations which Putin adamantly denies.

In the media, Putin often projects an adventurous, macho image, demonstrating his physical capabilities and taking part in unusual or dangerous activities; some of these publicity stunts have occasionally been criticised. A keen practitioner of martial arts, Putin has played a major role in development of sport in Russia, notably, helping Sochi to win the bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Ancestry, early life and education[link]

Putin with his mother, Maria Ivanovna, in July 1958

Putin was born on October 7, 1952, in Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR (now Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation),^[25] to parents Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin (1911–1999) and Maria Ivanovna Putina (1911–1998). His mother was a factory worker, and his father was a conscript in the Soviet Navy, where he served in the submarine fleet in the early 1930s.^[26] Two elder brothers were born in the mid-1930s; one died within a few months of birth, while the second succumbed to diphtheria during the siege of Leningrad.

Vladimir Putin's paternal grandfather, Spiridon Ivanovich Putin (1879–1965), was employed at Vladimir Lenin's dacha at Gorki as a cook, and after Lenin's death in 1924, he continued to work for Lenin's wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya. He would later cook for Joseph Stalin when the Soviet leader visited one of his dachas in the Moscow region. Spiridon later was employed at a dacha belonging to the Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, at which the young Putin would visit him.^[27]

The ancestry of Vladimir Putin has been described as a mystery with no records surviving of any ancestors of any people with the surname "Putin" beyond his grandfather Spiridon Ivanovich. It has been suggested that the Putin's are descended from the royal Tverskoy family. The 'family book' of the Tver region where Spiridon was from mentions the name of Putyanin who it claims were a clan of Russian aristocrats descended from Mikhail of Tver, the Grand Prince of Tver in the Middle Ages. It became common practice for family names associated with the former aristocracy to be abbreviated, e.g. Repnin becoming "Pnin" and, perhaps, Putyanin becoming "Putin".^[28]

His autobiography, Ot Pervogo Litsa (English: In the First Person),^[26] which is based on Putin's interviews, speaks of humble beginnings, including early years in a communal apartment in Leningrad. On 1 September 1960, he started at School No. 193 at Baskov Lane, just across from his house. By fifth grade he was one of a few in a class of more than 45 pupils who was not yet a member of the Pioneers, largely because of his rowdy behavior. In sixth grade he started taking sport seriously in the form of sambo and then judo. In his youth, Putin was eager to emulate the intelligence officer characters played on the Soviet screen by actors such as Vyacheslav Tikhonov and Georgiy Zhzhonov.^[29]

Putin graduated from the International Law branch of the Law Department of the Leningrad State University in 1975, writing his final thesis on international law.^[30] His PhD thesis was titled "The Strategic Planning of Regional Resources Under the Formation of Market Relations" and it argued that Russian economic success would depend on creating national energy champions.^[31] While at university he became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and remained a member until the party was dissolved in December 1991.^[32] Also at the University he met Anatoly Sobchak who later played an important role in Putin's career. Anatoly Sobchak was at the time an Assistant Professor and lectured Putin's class on Business Law (khozyaystvennoye pravo).^[33]

KGB career[link]

Putin in KGB uniform

Putin joined the KGB in 1975 upon graduation, and underwent a year's training at the 401st KGB school in Okhta, Leningrad. He then went on to work briefly in the Second Chief Directorate (counter-intelligence) before he was transferred to the First Chief Directorate, where among his duties was the monitoring of foreigners and consular officials in Leningrad.^[34][35]

From 1985 to 1990, the KGB stationed Putin in Dresden, East Germany.^[36] Following the collapse of the East German government, Putin was recalled to the Soviet Union and returned to Leningrad, where in June 1991 he assumed a position with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University, reporting to Vice-Rector Yuriy Molchanov.^[35] In his new position, Putin maintained surveillance on the student body and kept an eye out for recruits. It was during his stint at the university that Putin grew reacquainted with his former professor Anatoly Sobchak, then mayor of Leningrad.^[37]

Putin finally resigned from the active state security services with the rank of Lieutenant colonel on 20 August 1991 (with some attempts to resign made earlier),^[38] on the second day of the KGB-supported abortive putsch against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.^[39] Putin later explained his decision: "As soon as the coup began, I immediately decided which side I was on", though he also noted that the choice was hard because he had spent the best part of his life with "the organs".^[40]

Early political career[link]

Saint Petersburg administration[link]

In May 1990, Putin was appointed Mayor Sobchak's advisor on international affairs. On 28 June 1991, he was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayor's Office, with responsibility for promoting international relations and foreign investments. The Committee also registered business ventures in Saint Petersburg. Less than one year later, Putin was investigated by a commission of the city legislative council. Commission deputies Marina Salye and Yury Gladkov concluded that Putin understated prices and permitted the export of metals valued at $93 million, in exchange for foreign food aid that never arrived.^[41][42] Despite the commission's recommendation that Putin be fired, Putin remained head of the Committee for External Relations until 1996.^[43][44]

From 1994 to 1997, Putin was appointed to other positions in Saint Petersburg. In March 1994, he became first deputy head of the city administration. From 1995 through June 1997, he led the Saint Petersburg branch of the pro-government Our Home Is Russia political party.^[45] From 1995 through June 1997 he was also the head of the Advisory Board of the JSC Newspaper Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti.^[45]

Moscow career[link]

Putin as FSB director, 1998

In 1996, Anatoly Sobchak lost the Saint Petersburg mayoral election to Vladimir Yakovlev. Putin was called to Moscow and in June 1996 became a Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department headed by Pavel Borodin. He occupied this position until March 1997. During his tenure Putin was responsible for the foreign property of the state and organized transfer of the former assets of the Soviet Union and Communist Party to the Russian Federation.^[33]

On 26 March 1997, President Boris Yeltsin appointed Putin deputy chief of Presidential Staff, which he remained until May 1998, and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department (until June 1998). His predecessor on this position was Alexei Kudrin and the successor was Nikolai Patrushev both future prominent politicians and Putin's associates.^[33]

On 25 May 1998, Putin was appointed First Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff for regions, replacing Viktoriya Mitina; and, on 15 July, the Head of the Commission for the preparation of agreements on the delimitation of power of regions and the federal center attached to the President, replacing Sergey Shakhray. After Putin's appointment, the commission completed no such agreements, although during Shakhray's term as the Head of the Commission there were 46 agreements signed.^[46] Later, after becoming President Putin canceled all those agreements.^[33]

On 25 July 1998, Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin head of the FSB (one of the successor agencies to the KGB), the position Putin occupied until August 1999. He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1998 and its Secretary on 29 March 1999.

Accusations of plagiarism[link]

On 27 June 1997, at the Saint Petersburg Mining Institute Putin defended his Candidate of Science dissertation in economics titled "The Strategic Planning of Regional Resources Under the Formation of Market Relations".^[47] According to Clifford G Gaddy, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, 16 of the 20 pages that open a key section of Putin’s 218-page thesis were copied either word for word or with minute alterations from a management study, Strategic Planning and Policy, written by US professors William King and David Cleland and translated into Russian by a KGB-related institute in the early 1990s.^[48][49] 6 diagrams and tables were also copied.^[50] Gaddy doesn't believe that the plagiarism was really intentional "in the sense that if you had wanted to hide where the text came from you wouldn’t even list this work in the bibliography."^[51] The dissertation committee disagreed with Gaddy's claims. Chairman of the committee Natalia Pashkevich, accused Gaddy of not reading the dissertation very well. "There are references to the article mentioned. Everything is done correctly... It is only a plus for Vladimir Putin that he used not only Russian authors, but foreign ones as well." Anatoly Suslov, provost of economics at the Mining Institute, who was present at Putin dissertation defense, recalled "The opponent was someone from Moscow. The defense went calmly. There were many questions, of course, since it was a candidate's dissertation, but there was no question of plagiarism. No one uncovered anything of the kind. Vladimir Putin defended himself, and he prepared his own work. All those conversations about dissertations being bought are untrue. Ours isn't the kind of institute where you can do that."^[52]

First Premiership (1999–2000)[link]

On 9 August 1999, Vladimir Putin was appointed one of three First Deputy Prime Ministers, which enabled him later on that day, as the previous government led by Sergei Stepashin had been sacked, to be appointed acting Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation by President Boris Yeltsin.^[53] Yeltsin also announced that he wanted to see Putin as his successor. Later, that same day, Putin agreed to run for the presidency.^[54] On 16 August, the State Duma approved his appointment as Prime Minister with 233 votes in favour (vs. 84 against, 17 abstained),^[55] while a simple majority of 226 was required, making him Russia's fifth PM in fewer than eighteen months. On his appointment, few expected Putin, virtually unknown to the general public, to last any longer than his predecessors. He was initially regarded as a Yeltsin loyalist; like other prime ministers of Boris Yeltsin, Putin did not choose ministers himself, his cabinet being determined by the presidential administration.^[56]

Yeltsin's main opponents and would-be successors, Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov and former Chairman of the Russian Government Yevgeniy Primakov, were already campaigning to replace the ailing president, and they fought hard to prevent Putin's emergence as a potential successor. Putin's law-and-order image and his unrelenting approach to the renewed crisis in the North Caucasus, which started when the Islamic International Brigade based in Chechnya invaded a neighboring region starting the War in Dagestan, soon combined to raise Putin's popularity and allowed him to overtake all rivals.

Acting President Vladimir Putin arrived in Grozny on a Su-27 fighter jet, 20 March 2000.

While not formally associated with any party, Putin pledged his support to the newly formed Unity Party,^[57] which won the second largest percentage of the popular vote (23.3%) in the December 1999 Duma elections, and in turn he was supported by it.

Acting Presidency[link]

On 31 December 1999, Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned and, according to the constitution, Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation. On assuming this role, Putin went on a previously scheduled visit to Russian troops in Chechnya.^{[citation needed]}

The first decree that Putin signed, on 31 December 1999, was titled "On guarantees for former president of the Russian Federation and members of his family".^[58][59] This ensured that "corruption charges against the outgoing President and his relatives" would not be pursued, although this claim is not strictly verifiable.^{[clarification needed][60]} Later on 12 February 2001 Putin signed a federal law on guarantees for former presidents and their families, which replaced the similar decree.

While his opponents had been preparing for an election in June 2000, Yeltsin's resignation resulted in the Presidential elections being held within three months, on 26 March 2000; Putin won in the first round with 53% of the vote.^[61]

First Presidency (2000–2004)[link]

Vladimir Putin was inaugurated president on 7 May 2000. He appointed Minister of Finance Mikhail Kasyanov as his Prime minister. Having announced his intention to consolidate power in the country into a strict vertical, in May 2000 he issued a decree dividing 89 federal subjects of Russia between 7 federal districts overseen by representatives of him in order to facilitate federal administration.

Vladimir Putin taking the Presidential Oath on 7 May 2000 with Boris Yeltsin looking on.

During his first term in office, he moved to curb the political ambitions of some of the Yeltsin-era oligarchs such as former Kremlin insider Boris Berezovsky, who had "helped Mr. Putin enter the family, and funded the party that formed Mr. Putin's parliamentary base", according to BBC profile.^[62][63] At the same time, according to Vladimir Solovyev, it was Alexey Kudrin who was instrumental in Putin's assignment to the Presidential Administration of Russia to work with Pavel Borodin,^[64] and according to Solovyev, Berezovsky was proposing Igor Ivanov rather than Putin as a new president.^[65] A new group of business magnates, such as Gennady Timchenko, Vladimir Yakunin, Yuriy Kovalchuk, Sergey Chemezov, with close personal ties to Putin, emerged.

Russia's legal reform continued productively during Putin's first term. In particular, Putin succeeded in the codification of land law and tax law, where progress had been slow during Yeltsin's administration, because of Communist and oligarch opposition, respectively. Other legal reforms included new codes on labour, administrative, criminal, commercial and civil procedural law, as well as a major statute on the Bar.^[15]

The first major challenge to Putin's popularity came in August 2000, when he was criticised for his alleged mishandling of the Kursk submarine disaster.^[66]

In December 2000, Putin sanctioned the law to change the National Anthem of Russia. At the time the Anthem had music by Glinka and no words. The change was to restore (with a minor modification) the music of the post-1944 Soviet anthem by Alexandrov, while the new text was composed by Sergey Mikhalkov, who previously had authored the lyrics of the two versions of the Soviet anthem.^[67][68]

Many in the Russian press and in the international media warned that the death of some 130 hostages in the special forces' rescue operation during the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis would severely damage President Putin's popularity. However, shortly after the siege had ended, the Russian president was enjoying record public approval ratings – 83% of Russians declared themselves satisfied with Putin and his handling of the siege.^[69]

A few months before the elections, Putin fired Kasyanov's cabinet and appointed Mikhail Fradkov to his place. Sergey Ivanov became the first civilian in Russia to take Defense Minister position.

In 2003, a referendum was held in Chechnya adopting a new constitution which declares the Republic as a part of Russia. Chechnya has been gradually stabilized with the establishment of the parliamentary elections and a regional government.^[70][71] Throughout the war Russia has severely disabled the Chechen rebel movement, although sporadic violence continued to occur throughout the North Caucasus.^[72]

Second Presidency (2004–2008)[link]

Putin speaking on the 2005 Victory Day Parade on Red Square. Saint Basil's Cathedral is on the background.

On 14 March 2004, Putin was re-elected to the presidency for a second term, receiving 71% of the vote.^[61]

The Beslan school hostage crisis took place in September 2004, in which hundreds died. Among the administrative measures taken after that terrorist act, Putin launched an initiative to replace the direct election of the Governors and Presidents of the Federal subjects of Russia with a system whereby they would be nominated by the President and approved or disapproved by regional legislatures.^[73][74] In 2005 Putin created the Public Chamber of Russia.

In 2005, the National Priority Projects were launched to improve Russia's health care, education, housing and agriculture. The most high-profile change within the national priority project frameworks was probably the 2006 across-the-board increase in wages in healthcare and education, as well as the decision to modernise equipment in both sectors in 2006 and 2007.^[75] In his May 2006 annual speech, Putin announced increasing maternity benefits and state support of prenatal care for women. By 2012 the demographic programmes of the government led to a 45% increase in second child births by women, and a 60% increase in third, fourth etc. births.^[76]

The continued criminal prosecution of Russia's then richest man, President of YUKOS company Mikhail Khodorkovsky, for fraud and tax evasion was seen by the international press as a retaliation for Khodorkovsky's donations to both liberal and communist opponents of the Kremlin. The government said that Khodorkovsky was corrupting a large segment of the Duma to prevent tax code changes such as taxes on windfall profits and closing offshore tax evasion vehicles. Khodorkovsky was arrested, Yukos was bunkrupted and the company's assets were auctioned at below-market value, with the largest share acquired by the state company Rosneft.^[77] The fate of Yukos was seen in the West as a sign of a broader shift of Russia towards a system of state capitalism.^[78][79]

A study by Bank of Finland's Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT) in 2008 found that state intervention had made a positive impact on the corporate governance of many companies in Russia: the governance was better in companies with state control or with a stake held by the government.^[80]

George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin take a sunset walk on a pier along the Black Sea, April 5, 2008

Putin was criticized in the West and also by Russian liberals for what many observers considered a wide-scale crackdown on media freedom in Russia. On 7 October 2006, Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who exposed corruption in the Russian army and its conduct in Chechnya, was shot in the lobby of her apartment building. The death of Politkovskaya triggered an outcry in Western media, with accusations that, at best, Putin has failed to protect the country's new independent media.^[81][82] When asked about the Politkovskaya murder in his interview with the German TV channel ARD, Putin said that her murder brings much more harm to the Russian authorities than her writing.^[83] By 2012 the performers of the murder were arrested and named Boris Berezovsky and Akhmed Zakayev as a possible clients.^[84]

In 2007, "Dissenters' Marches" were organized by the opposition group The Other Russia,^[85] led by former chess champion Garry Kasparov and national-Bolshevist leader Eduard Limonov. Following prior warnings, demonstrations in several Russian cities were met by police action, which included interfering with the travel of the protesters and the arrests of as many as 150 people who attempted to break through police lines.^[86] The Dissenters' Marches have received little support among the Russian general public, according to polls.^[87]

On 12 September 2007, Putin dissolved the government upon the request of Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. Fradkov commented that it was to give the President a "free hand" in the run-up to the parliamentary election. Viktor Zubkov was appointed the new prime minister.^[88]

In December 2007, United Russia won 64.24% of the popular vote in their run for State Duma according to election preliminary results.^[89] Their closest competitor, the Communist Party of Russia, won approximately 12% of votes.^[90] United Russia's victory in December 2007 elections was seen by many as an indication of strong popular support of the then Russian leadership and its policies.^[91][92]

On 8 February 2008, Putin delivered a speech before the expanded session of the State Council headlined "On the Strategy of Russia's Development until 2020".^[93] In his last days in office Putin was reported to have taken a series of steps to re-align the regional bureaucracy to make the governors report to the prime minister rather than the president.^[94][95] The presidential site explained that "the changes... bear a refining nature and do not affect the essential positions of the system. The key role in estimating the effectiveness of activity of regional authority still belongs to President of the Russian Federation."

Second Premiership (2008–2012)[link]

Vladimir Putin with Dmitry Medvedev

Putin was barred from a third term by the Constitution. First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was elected his successor. On 8 May 2008, only a day after handing the presidency to Medvedev, Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia, maintaining his political dominance.^[96]

The 2008-2009 world crisis hit the Russian economy especially hard, interrupting the flow of cheap Western credit and investments. This coincided with tension in relationships with the EU and the U.S. following the 2008 South Ossetia war, in which Russia defeated the U.S. and NATO ally Georgia.

However, the large financial reserves, accumulated in the Stabilization Fund of Russia in the previous period of high oil prices, alongside the strong management helped the country to cope with the crisis and resume economic growth since mid-2009. The Russian government's anti-crisis measures have been praised by the World Bank, which said in its Russia Economic Report from November 2008: "prudent fiscal management and substantial financial reserves have protected Russia from deeper consequences of this external shock. The government's policy response so far—swift, comprehensive, and coordinated—has helped limit the impact."^[97] Putin himself named the overcoming of consequences of the world economic crisis one of the two main achievements of his 2nd Premiership^[76] (the other named achievement being the stabilisation of the size of Russia's population between 2008-2011 following the long period of demographic collapse started in the 1990s).^[76]

At the United Russia Congress in Moscow on 24 September 2011, Medvedev officially proposed that Putin stand for the Presidency in 2012; an offer which Putin accepted. Given United Russia's near-total dominance of Russian politics, many observers believe that Putin is all but assured of a third term. The move is expected to see Medvedev stand on the United Russia ticket in the parliamentary elections in December, with a goal of becoming Prime Minister at the end of his presidential term.^[98]

After the parliamentary elections on 4 December 2011, tens of thousands Russians engaged in protests against alleged electoral fraud, the largest protests in Putin's time; protesters criticized Putin and United Russia and demanded annulment of the election results.^[99] However those protests, organized by the leaders of the Russian "non-systemic opposition", sparked the fear of a colour revolution in society, and a number of "anti-Orange" counter-protests (the name alludes to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine) and rallies of Putin supporters were carried out, surpassing in scale the opposition protests.^{[100][101][102]}

Third Presidency (since 2012)[link]

Vladimir Putin taking the Presidential Oath on 7 May 2012, his 3rd inauguration ceremony

On 4 March 2012 Putin won the 2012 Russian presidential elections in the first round, with 63.6 % of the vote.^[61] While extraordinary measures were taken to make the elections transparent, including the usage of webcams on the vast majority of polling stations, the vote was criticized by Russian opposition and some international bodies for perceived irregularities.^{[citation needed]}

Putin was inaugurated in the Kremlin on 7 May 2012. Massive public protests had taken place in Moscow on 6 May with estimated 8,000^[103]-20,000 protesters taking part.^[104] 80 people were injured in confrontations with police (including over 30 policemen)^[105] and 450 arrests were made on 6 May^[106] with 120 more arrests taking place in protests the following day.^[106]

On his first day as President, Putin issued 14 Presidential decrees, including a lengthy one stating wide-ranging goals for the Russian economy. Other decrees concerned education, housing, skilled-labor training, relations with the European Union, the defense industry, inter-ethnic relations, and other policy areas dealt with in Putin's programme articles issued during the Presidential campaign.^[107][108]

Policies[link]

Domestic policies[link]

Putin's domestic policies, especially early in his first presidency, were aimed at creating a strict "vertical of power". On 13 May 2000, he issued a decree dividing the 89 federal subjects of Russia between 7 federal districts overseen by representatives named by himself in order to facilitate federal administration. Putin also pursued a policy of enlargement of federal subjects: their number was reduced from 89 in 2000 to the present 83 after the autonomous okrugs of Russia were merged with their parent subjects.

On 13 May 2000, Putin divided Russia into 7 federal districts. On 19 January 2010, the new 8th North Caucasian Federal District was split from Southern Federal District.

According to Stephen White, Russia under the presidency of Putin made it clear that it had no intention of establishing a "second edition" of the American or British political system, but rather a system that was closer to Russia's own traditions and circumstances.^[109] Putin's administration has often been described as a "sovereign democracy".^[110] First proposed by Vladislav Surkov in February 2006, the term quickly gained currency within Russia and arguably unified various political elites around it. According to its proponents, the government's actions and policies ought above all to enjoy popular support within Russia itself and not be determined from outside the country.^[111][112]

In July 2000, according to a law proposed by him and approved by the Federal Assembly of Russia, Putin gained the right to dismiss heads of the federal subjects. In 2004, the direct election of governors by popular vote was ended. This was seen by Putin as a necessary move to stop separatist tendencies and get rid of those governors who were connected with organised crime.^[113] The measure proved to be temporary: in 2012, as proposed by Putin's successor Dmitry Medvedev, the direct election of governors was re-introduced.^[114] Along with the return of elected governors, Medvedev's reforms also simplified the registration of political parties and reduced the number of signatures required by non-parliamentary parties and independent candidates to participate in elections,^[114] thus reverting or further loosening the restrictions imposed by previous Putin-endorsed legislation. Notably, the tough electoral legislation has been among the government actions effected under Putin's presidency that have been criticised by many independent Russian media outlets and Western commentators as anti-democratic.^[115][116]

During his first term in office, Putin moved to curb the political ambitions of some of the Yeltsin-era oligarchs, resulting in the exile or imprisonment of such people as Boris Berezovsky, Vladimir Gusinsky, Mikhail Khodorkovsky; other oligarchs soon joined Putin's camp.^{[citation needed]}

Putin presided over an intensified fight with organised crime and terrorism that resulted in two times lower murder rates by 2011,^[117] as well as significant reduction in the numbers of terrorist acts by the late 2000s.^[118]

Putin succeeded in codifying land law and tax law and promulgated new codes on labour, administrative, criminal, commercial and civil procedural law.^[15] Under Medvedev's presidency, Putin's government implemented some key reforms in the area of state security, the Russian police reform and the Russian military reform.

Economic policy[link]

Russian GDP since the end of the Soviet Union. The Russian term for GDP is ВВП (VVP) which coincides with the initials of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and is often used as a shortcut when writing or speaking about him.

Under the Putin administration the economy made real gains of an average 7% per year (2000: 10%, 2001: 5.1%, 2002: 4.7%, 2003: 7.3%, 2004: 7.2%, 2005: 6.4%, 2006: 8.2%, 2007: 8.5%),^[119] making it the 7th largest economy in the world in purchasing power. Russia's nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased 6 fold, climbing from 22nd to 10th largest in the world. In 2007, Russia's GDP exceeded that of Russian SFSR in 1990, meaning it has overcome the devastating consequences of the 1998 financial crisis and preceding recession in the 1990s.^[7]

During Putin's eight years in office, industry grew by 76%, investments increased by 125%,^[7] and agricultural production and construction increased as well. Real incomes more than doubled and the average monthly salary increased sevenfold from $80 to $640.^[5][8] From 2000 to 2006 the volume of consumer credit increased 45 times^[120][121] and the middle class grew from 8 million to 55 million. The number of people living below the poverty line decreased from 30% in 2000 to 14% in 2008.^[7][122]

In 2001, Putin, who has advocated liberal economic policies, introduced flat tax rate of 13%;^[123][124] the corporate rate of tax was also reduced from 35 percent to 24 percent;^[123] Small businesses also get better treatment. The old system with high tax rates has been replaced by a new system where companies can choose either a 6 percent tax on gross revenue or a 15 percent tax on profits.^[123] Overall tax burden is lower in Russia than in most European countries.^[125]

A central concept in Putin's economic thinking was the creation of so-called National champions, vertically integrated companies in strategic sectors that are expected not only to seek profit, but also to "advance the interests of the nation". Examples of such companies include Gazprom, Rosneft and United Aircraft Corporation.^[126]

Before the Putin era, in 1998, over 60% of industrial turnover in Russia was based on barter and various monetary surrogates. The use of such alternatives to money has now fallen out of favour, which has boosted economic productivity significantly. Besides raising wages and consumption, Putin's government has received broad praise also for eliminating this problem.^[127]

Some oil revenue went to stabilization fund established in 2004. The fund accumulated oil revenue, which allowed Russia to repay all of the Soviet Union's debts by 2005. In early 2008, it was split into the Reserve Fund (designed to protect Russia from possible global financial shocks) and the National Welfare Fund, whose revenues will be used for a pension reform.^[7]

Inflation remained a problem however, as between 1999–2007 it was kept at the forecast ceiling only twice, and in 2007 the inflation exceeded that of 2006, continuing an upward trend at the beginning of 2008.^[7] The Russian economy is still commodity-driven despite its growth. Payments from the fuel and energy sector in the form of customs duties and taxes accounted for nearly half of the federal budget's revenues. The large majority of Russia's exports are made up by raw materials and fertilizers,^[7] although exports as a whole accounted for only 8.7% of the GDP in 2007, compared to 20% in 2000.^[128]

In December 2011, after 15 years of negotiations, Russia finally joined the World Trade Organisation. The accession to WTO is expected to be ratified by Russian Parliament in the spring of 2012.

Industrial development[link]

Putin promotes the Lada Kalina brand driving through the recently opened Amur Highway in 2010. The construction of the Amur Highway connected the Russian federal highways into a single system.

To boost the market share of locally produced vehicles and support the Russia's automotive industry, the government under Putin implemented several protectionist measures and launched programs to attract foreign producers into the country. In late 2005, the government enacted legislation to create special economic zones (SEZ) with the aim of encouraging investments by foreign automotive companies. The benefits of operating in the special economic zones include tax allowances, abolishment of asset and land taxes and protection against changes in the tax regime. Some regions also provide extensive support for large investors (over $100 million.) These include Saint Petersburg/Leningrad Oblast, Kaluga Oblast and Kaliningrad Oblast.^[129] Under Putin as President and Premier, most of the world's largest automotive companies opened plants in Russia, including Ford Motor Company, Toyota, General Motors, Nissan, Hyundai Motor, Suzuki, Magna International, Scania and MAN SE.