Putin's post is the president of the Russian Federation. He has been leading our country since May 7, 2000, with a four-year break, when Dmitry Medvedev was the head of state. Currently, Putinâs fourth term in this position lasts on May 7, 2018. In this article, we will talk about the presidency, who Putin used to be, what posts he held in the 90s under the first president of the country, Boris Yeltsin.
The president
The President is Putinâs position, which is the highest state post in the Russian Federation. The president is simultaneously the main state.
It is worth noting that most of his powers are directly executive in nature, that is, they directly relate to the executive branch. At the same time, some experts evaluating the current state of the state and politics in the country note that in Russia the president cannot be attributed to one specific branch of government. It seems to rise above all of them, as it carries out coordinating functions. This is also proved by the fact that the president of the Russian Federation has the right to dissolve the State Duma - the legislative body.
Under the current Constitution, the president is considered its guarantor, as well as the guarantor of human and civil rights and freedoms. In addition, he occupies the post of Supreme Commander, actually rising above all the army leaders. It is on his decision that key issues of state defense depend.
Another fundamental function of the president is the right to determine the main directions of foreign and domestic policy.
Childhood and youth
The position of Putin that he now holds is the highest post in modern Russia. Therefore, it is interesting how he came to him, what his path was, who it was worth working earlier to become the head of state in the future.
Vladimir Putin was born in Leningrad in 1952. He lived with his parents in an ordinary communal apartment in Basque Lane. Later, he recalled that since childhood he was fond of films about scouts, which predetermined the choice of his profession.
By 1965, he graduated from the eight-year-old, after which he went to study in a special school with a chemical bias. Almost immediately after graduation, he went to the local KGB department, telling about his plans to become a scout. They listened to him and advised to get an advanced humanitarian education.
He entered the law faculty of Leningrad State University. As a student, he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It was then that I first met Anatoly Sobchak, who in the future will play an important role in his career growth. At that time, Sobchak was an assistant professor at LSU.
Security Service
The hero of our article was systematically moving towards his goal. After graduating from Leningrad State University in 1975, he received a distribution just in the KGB. After completing training courses for the operational staff, Putin began working in the territorial state security agencies with the rank of senior lieutenant of justice.
Since 1977, he was transferred through the counterintelligence line to the investigative department of the Leningrad administration.
In the mid-80s, Putin, already in the rank of major, studied along the lines of legal and illegal intelligence. From 1985 to 1990, he worked in the German Democratic Republic through foreign intelligence. In particular, he worked as part of a reconnaissance group in East Germany. His interests at that time included Western European countries that were considered allies of the United States. First of all, of course, Germany.
After the trip and return to the USSR, Putin refused to transfer to the central office of the KGB. He retired from the rank of lieutenant colonel in August 1991 after the speech of Sobchak against the Emergency Committee.
Work with Sobchak
Putin officially remained in the state security service, since 1990, his actual place of work was his native Leningrad State University. He was an assistant to the rector Stanislav Merkuryev, in charge of international affairs. It was Merkuryev who recommended Putin to Sobchak as a responsible and executive employee.
Since May 1990, Putin has been an adviser to Sobchak, the head of the city council of deputies of Leningrad. When Anatoly Aleksandrovich won the mayoral election in June 1991, the hero of our article moved to the city administration, taking the place of the head of the committee on foreign relations. He attracted investment in the Northern capital, oversaw cooperation with foreign companies, was responsible for the development of tourism.
Since the spring of 1994, he received the post of first deputy Sobchak. The former post of Putin remained with him, he still headed the committee.
Moving to Moscow
Putin moved to Moscow in August 1996, after the defeat of Anatoly Sobchak in the gubernatorial elections. He got the post of deputy manager of the president. At that time, this position was held by Pavel Borodin. This is Putinâs first position in Moscow.
Already in March 1997, he headed the main control department of the President of Russia, since then, in fact, working in the Yeltsin team. In the spring of 1998, he was promoted to first deputy head of administration.
An important stage in his career is associated with July 1998. Putin's new position is director of the Federal Security Service. In the fall, he began a massive reorganization of the department. In particular, he is credited with ensuring uninterrupted financing and raising salaries for employees.
It is believed that a preliminary decision to transfer power to Putin was made by Yeltsin in May 1999. Therefore, it is important to track what position Putin held under Yeltsin.
It is noteworthy that the director of the FSB is not the most significant of them. On August 9, 1999, the hero of our article led the Russian government as Prime Minister. On the same day, Yeltsin recorded a televised address in which he named Putin his successor.
An unpopular politician in the past, it was urgently necessary to âuntwistâ so that he would win in the upcoming presidential election. They took place earlier than originally planned, since on December 31, Yeltsin announced his resignation and the appointment of Putin as acting president of Russia. These are the posts held by Putin under Yeltsin.
The election took place on March 26, 2000. Putin won a landslide victory with nearly 53 percent of the vote in the first round. Putin officially took office on May 7.
Those elections were the most competitive in recent years, at least in terms of the number of participants. In total, eleven candidates were allowed to vote. At the same time, four of them did not even get one percent of the vote. These are Umar Dzhabrailov, Alexey Podberezkin, Yuri Skuratov and Stanislav Govorukhin. Ella Pamfilova overcame one percent, about one and a half percent of voters voted for Konstantin Titov.
Fifth place was taken by Vladimir Zhirinovsky, whose popularity since 1991, when his party won the State Duma elections, has fallen significantly. He received only 2.7% of the vote. The fourth was Aman Tuleyev (2.95%), the third place was held by Grigory Yavlinsky - 5.8%.
The main rival of Putin in the elections was the leader of the Communists Gennady Zyuganov. And so it happened, he managed to get almost 29 and a half percent of the vote, which was not enough to appoint a second round.
Putin won with the support of nearly 40 million voters.
Inauguration
On May 7, a solemn ceremony of transferring power to the new head of state took place. As expected, Putinâs assumption of office was broadcast live by central television channels.
The ceremony was held in the Grand Kremlin Palace. This was one of the innovations, since before that Boris Yeltsin twice took power in the State Kremlin Palace. In 2000, for the first time, it was accompanied by a prayer service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. Since then it has been considered a tradition.
The scenario of the inauguration and the procedure for its implementation have remained unchanged for many years. Putinâs inauguration ceremony began with taking the oath in the presence of deputies, members of the Federation Council, and judges of the Constitutional Court.
According to the script of the ceremony, Putin arrives at the inauguration of the president from his office in the Grand Kremlin Palace. He rises to the palace along the Red Porch, before which he greeted the presidential regiment, which is specially built for this purpose on Cathedral Square.
The new head of state arrives in the Kremlin as part of a motorcade through the Spassky Gate. He rises up the front staircase to the fanfare, enters the podium, after passing through the Alexander and St. George Halls of the Kremlin.
Upon assuming the presidency, Putin put his hand on a special copy of the Constitution, pronouncing the text of the oath. Only after this, the head of state is officially considered to have taken office. The chairman of the Constitutional Court solemnly announces this. After that, the anthem of Russia sounds, and a duplicate of the presidential standard rises above the residence of the head of state.
Upon assuming the presidency of the Russian Federation, Putin addresses the citizens of Russia with a short address, which is broadcast live. Then on the Kremlin embankment 30 solemn salvos from artillery shells are made.
In conclusion, the head of state leaves St. Andrew's Hall on Cathedral Square to host the parade of the presidential regiment.
Second term
We continue to talk in detail about Putin's posts over the years. After the end of his first term, Vladimir Vladimirovich decided to take part in the presidential election in 2004.
This time, significantly fewer candidates participated in the vote - only six people. This time, Sergey Mironov, who failed to gain even one percent of the vote, remained in last place. A little more than two percent received a candidate from the Liberal Democratic Party Oleg Malyshkin. Almost four percent was won by the only woman from among the candidates - Irina Khakamada.
This time Sergey Glazyev closed the three leaders, only 4.1 percent of voters voted for him. The second place went to the candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Nikolai Kharitonov, but even he failed to gain even 14%.
Putin won an even more convincing victory, gaining more than 71%. This time, almost 50 million people cast their votes for him. It is noteworthy that the inauguration took place again on May 7, like four years ago. That's when Putin took office for the second time.
The first two terms of Putin were marked by significant changes in domestic politics. Already in August 2000, the procedure for the formation of the Federation Council was changed. After the terrorist attack in Beslan in 2004, the president announced the cancellation of the election of regional leaders in order to strengthen the vertical of power. By that time, in parliament, he had already managed to secure the stable support of the United Russia party, which had won parliamentary elections a year earlier. Yeltsin did not have such conditions, since the parliament under the first president of Russia was always oppositional, the Communists ruled it. Every decision and bill had to be forced through the deputies. Now the Communists have finally faded into the background.
Experts began to note the staffing preferences of the president. He appointed his old acquaintances in Leningrad to key posts, those with whom he studied at the university, worked in the city hall in the team of Anatoly Sobchak.
A large-scale reform has been carried out, the situation of the media has radically changed. Free and independent publications in the country has become much less. The resonance in this planet was the NTV affair. It is believed that this was the beginning of the nationalization of media in the country, when the company was taken from private hands, in fact, transferred to the state structure.
In support of Putin, various youth organizations were actively based at that time. These were âWalking Togetherâ, the movement âOURSâ, âYoung Guardâ of âUnited Russia.â Of these, only the last is still active. âWalking Togetherâ ceased to exist in 2007, and âOURSâ - in 2013.
At the same time, there has been an obvious growth in the country's economy, especially significant compared to the hungry 90s, when the country actually lived in debt, and salaries were not paid to state employees. Now, there was growth in all sectors, which, first of all, was associated with high oil prices, which remained at maximum levels almost all the 00s.
Prime again
Despite rumors that Putin was going to remake the Constitution for himself to go for a third term, this did not happen. In 2008, he announced his successor, which was Dmitry Medvedev. By tradition, the successor confidently won the first round. Under Medvedev, Putin took over as prime minister. If you follow Putinâs position over the years, he was prime minister from 2008 to 2012. He was approved for this post the day after the inauguration of the new head of state.
The period of this post of Putin was the large-scale world financial and economic crisis of 2008-2010. At that time, Russia began to reorient from its Western partners to even closer relations with Belarus and Kazakhstan, which as a result led to the creation of the Customs Union.
Return to the presidency
In September 2011, at the congress of the United Russia party, Putin accepted the offer to run for president again. In response, he expressed the hope that in his team the post of prime minister would return to Dmitry Medvedev.
It is noteworthy that at that time there was active talk that Medvedev could run for a second term. In particular, it is alleged that his team, which has been with him all these four years, counted especially strongly on this. But that did not happen.
In the March 4, 2012 elections, five candidates participated. By tradition, the last place was taken by the leader of the Just Russia party Sergei Mironov. This time he managed to get significantly more than one percent of the vote - 3.85%. The fourth place was held by the candidate from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Vladimir Zhirinovsky (6.2%).
The third place, unexpectedly for many, was taken by a self-nominated oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov, well-known in the country, who received support from almost eight percent of voters. Gennady Zyuganov again turned out to be second, his rating was 17.2%.
Vladimir Putin won the election, even though his result was lower than in 2004. 63.6% voted for him, more than 45 and a half million people.
By tradition, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin entered the new "old" post on May 7. This time the inauguration turned out to be not so standard, as on the same day the head of state signed a series of program decrees that were aimed at significantly improving life in the country. They went down in history as May decrees. The date when Putin took office was remembered even better in this regard.
For this term, Putin had the largest sporting event that the country has hosted in the past few decades. In 2014, Sochi hosted the Winter Olympic Games.
Literally a month later, he made another fateful decision, the consequences of which are still felt. There was a protracted political crisis in Ukraine at that time. In March 2014, the head of state received permission from the Federation Council on the use of Russian troops in Ukraine. The very next day, he spoke before both chambers of the national parliament in connection with a request for the admission of the Republic of Crimea to the Russian Federation, which came from the leaders and residents of the peninsula. All the years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was officially the territory of Ukraine.
This decision caused a mixed reaction in the world. The Western community and the United States criticized him unambiguously, after which sanctions were imposed on Russia and domestic companies, the consequences of which are still felt since they have not yet been lifted.
Fourth term
The post of Vladimir Putin and is currently the president of the Russian Federation. He announced the decision to be nominated for a second, but actually for a fourth term, in December 2017 in Nizhny Novgorod at a meeting with employees of the Gorky Automobile Plant.
The next presidential election in the Russian Federation was held on March 18, 2018. . - , .
Fifth place went to the veteran of the election race Grigory Yavlinsky, who received a little more than one percent of the vote. The most unexpected candidate for this campaign, Ksenia Sobchak, earned 1.68%. Vladimir Zhirinovsky closed the top three with 5.65%, and non-party candidate Pavel Grudinin, nominated by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, took second place. He failed to get even 12 percent of the vote.
Putinâs victory in this election was the most convincing in the entire modern history of Russia, because almost 77 percent of voters voted for him. In absolute terms, this is almost 56 and a half million people.
On May 7, the inauguration took place. That's when Putin took office for the fourth time in his career. A week after this, an important symbolic event took place: the opening of automobile traffic on the Crimean bridge, since it was extremely problematic to get into this region, now Russian, before.
Now you know when Putin took office in 2018, and also when he did it the previous time. It is noteworthy that in late May, he officially announced that he did not plan to run for election in 2024. Justifying this by the need to comply with the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
Throughout the 00s, Putin has been the most popular politician in the country. According to opinion polls conducted throughout the Russian Federation, his rating since 1999, when he was the acting president of Russia, has grown from 14 percent to current rates, which can be judged from the latest presidential election. It is believed that at the peak of popularity he was in 2015, on the wave of popular love - after the annexation of Crimea to Russia. By the beginning of the year, 86 percent of Russians supported his work, and this was not the limit. Then, of course, almost everyone knew what position Putin held.
All the sociologists, without exception, noted a sharp increase in its rating in the spring of 2014. Even then, annual growth was 29%, reaching 83 points. Experts emphasized that Putin received such a high level of approval not only for his position on resolving the Ukrainian crisis and the annexation of Crimea, but also for the results of the successful performance of the Russian national team at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which took place in Sochi, for the first time in Russia in its entire modern a story. The information that in February 2015 Putin's approval rating reached 86 percent was provided by the independent sociological agency Levada Center.
It is noteworthy that in 2015 the level of support of the head of state continued to strengthen, especially after the successful military operation of the domestic Aerospace Forces in Syria. According to the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center, by October 2015, a nationwide approval rating had almost reached ninety percent.
In 2018, the presidential rating shook noticeably. While state sociologists reported a decline to 63 and a half percent, independents even wrote about 48 points. There is a plausible explanation for such a sharp fall - this is a decision made a few months before to raise the retirement age in the country. This has been decided to do since 2019.
As many experts note, Putin himself has repeatedly stated that there is no need or even plans to raise the retirement age in the country, at least during his first two terms. Even during relatively recent performances in 2013 and 2015. This topic was not addressed in the message to the Federal Assembly, which was held in March 2018. Moreover, the RIA Novosti government publication at the same time stated that the retirement age would not increase until at least 2030.
The first statement in the opposite way was made on June 16, literally a month after the inauguration. The government he appointed came up with a bill to raise the retirement age. This shocked the public with its suddenness, causing numerous protests from Russians and trade unions. In late August, the president made a televised statement clarifying the inevitability of reform, while proposing mitigating amendments. However, even after this, the population considered them insufficient, their attitude to reform did not change dramatically. On October 3, the decree was signed by the president.