Putin's+Russia

Good Jophes Just make sure you are undertaking too much content for this research. Bye

Putin's Regime and it's effects on Russia -Putin and other Key players -The Second Chechen War -Controversies of the regime, eg, Moscow Theatre hostage crisis, Beslan School Siege etc. -Opponents of the regime in Media, eg. Anna Politkovskaya, Alexander Litvinenko -Russia's socio-political climate

Here is a link to images of President Putin, you may find some interesting information if you visit the sites where these images come from. http://images.google.com.au/images?gbv=2&hl=en&sa=1&q=president+putin&btnG=Search+Images&aq=f&oq=

http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/parliament/5160/Putin/

Putin's Media War (Journeyman Pictures) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8Tc3uVOaag&feature=channel_page

Putin's People []

Interview with Garry Kasparov []

Anna P. Article []

Anna P. Article 2 []

Anna P. videos []#

Putin videos http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=the+second+chechen+war&emb=0&aq=f#q =vladimir+putin&emb= 0

Alexander L. videos http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=the+second+chechen+war&emb=0&aq=f#q =alexander+litvinenko&emb= 0

Second Chechen War videos. http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=the+second+chechen+war&emb=0&aq=f#

Presidency See also: [|Vladimir Putin legislation and program]

[[|edit]] First term (2000 – 2004)
 President [|Boris Yeltsin] handing over the presidential copy of the [|Russian constitution] to Vladimir Putin on 31 December 1999. His rise to Russia's highest office ended up being even more rapid: on 31 December 1999, Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned and, according to the constitution, Putin became [|Acting President of the Russian Federation]. The first Decree that Putin signed 31 December 1999, was the one "On guarantees for former president of the Russian Federation and members of his family".[|[68]][|[69]] This ensured that "corruption charges against the outgoing President and his relatives" would not be pursued, although this claim is not strictly verifiable.[|[70]] Later on 12 February 2001 Putin signed a federal law on guarantees for former presidents and their families, which replaced the similar decree. In 1999, Yeltsin and his family were under scrutiny for charges related to money-laundering by the Russian and Swiss authorities.[|[71]] While his opponents had been preparing for an election in June 2000, Yeltsin's resignation resulted in the elections being held within three months, in March.[[|citation needed]//] [|Presidential elections] were held on 26 March 2000; Putin won in the first round.[//[|citation needed]//]//  Vladimir Putin taking the Presidential Oath on 7 May 2000 with [|Boris Yeltsin] looking on. Vladimir Putin was inaugurated president on 7 May 2000. He appointed Financial minister [|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. In July 2000, according to a law proposed by him and approved by the [|Russian parliament], Putin also gained the right to dismiss heads of the federal subjects. 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.[|[72]][|[73]] 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],[|[74]] and according to Solovyev, Berezovsky was proposing [|Igor Ivanov] rather than Putin as a new president.[|[75]] A new [|group of business magnates], such as [|Gennady Timchenko], [|Vladimir Yakunin], [|Yuriy Kovalchuk], [|Sergey Chemezov], with close personal ties to Putin, emerged. Corruption grew by the magnitude of several times and assumed "systemic and institutionalised" form, according to a report by [|Boris Nemtsov] as well as other sources.[|[76]][|[77]][|[78]][|[79]][|[80]][|[81]] Corruption was characterized by Putin himself as "the most wearying and difficult to resolve" problem he encountered during his two terms in office.[|[82]] 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].[|[83]] 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 [|Mikhalkov].[|[84]][|[85]] 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.[|[86]] The [|arrest] in early July 2003 of [|Platon Lebedev], a [|Mikhail Khodorkovsky] partner and second largest shareholder in [|Yukos], on suspicion of illegally acquiring a stake in a state-owned [|fertilizer] firm, [|Apatit], in 1994, foreshadowed what by the end of the year became a full-fledged prosecution of Yukos and its management for fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion. A few months before the elections, Putin fired Kasyanov's cabinet and appointed relatively obscure [|Mikhail Fradkov] to his place. [|Sergey Ivanov] became the first civilian in Russia to take Defence Minister position. 

[[|edit]] Second term (2004 – 2008)
On 14 March 2004, [|Putin was re-elected] to the presidency for a second term, receiving 71% of the vote. By the beginning of Putin's second term he had undermined every independent source of political power in Russia, decreasing the degree of pluralism in the Russian society.[|[87]] Following the [|Beslan school hostage crisis], in September 2004 Putin suggested the creation of the [|Public Chamber of Russia] and 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 proposed by the President and approved or disapproved by regional [|legislatures].[|[88]][|[89]] He also initiated the merger of a number of federal subjects of Russia into larger entities. Whilst some in [|Beslan] blamed Putin personally for the massacre in which hundreds died,[|[90]] his overall popularity in Russia did not suffer.[[|citation needed]] According to various Russian and western media reports, one of the major domestic issue concerns for President Putin were the problems arising from the ongoing [|demographic and social trends in Russia], such as the death rate being higher than the birth rate, cyclical poverty, and housing concerns. In 2005, [|National Priority Projects] were launched in the fields of [|health care], [|education], housing and [|agriculture]. In his May 2006 annual speech, Putin proposed increasing maternity benefits and [|prenatal care] for women. Putin was strident about the need to reform the judiciary considering the present federal judiciary "Sovietesque", wherein many of the judges hand down the same verdicts as they would under the old Soviet judiciary structure, and preferring instead a judiciary that interpreted and implemented the code to the current situation. In 2005, responsibility for federal prisons was transferred from the [|Ministry of Internal Affairs] to the [|Ministry of Justice]. 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.[|[91]] One of the most controversial aspects of Putin's second term was the continuation of the criminal prosecution of Russia's richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, President of [|YUKOS], for fraud and [|tax evasion]. While much of the international press saw this as a reaction against Khodorkovsky's funding for political opponents of the Kremlin, both liberal and communist, the Russian government had argued that Khodorkovsky was engaged in corrupting a large segment of the Duma to prevent changes in the tax code aimed at taxing windfall profits and closing [|offshore tax evasion vehicles]. Khodorkovsky's arrest was met positively by the Russian public, who see the oligarchs as thieves who were unjustly enriched and robbed the country of its natural wealth.[|[92]] Many of the initial privatizations, including that of Yukos, are widely believed to have been fraudulent – Yukos, valued at some $30 billion in 2004, had been privatized for $110 million – and like other oligarchic groups, the Yukos-Menatep name has been frequently tarred with accusations of links to criminal organizations. Tim Osborne of GML, the majority owner of Yukos, said in February 2008: "Despite claims by President Vladimir Putin that the Kremlin had no interest in bankrupting Yukos, the company's assets were auctioned at below-market value. In addition, new debts suddenly emerged out of nowhere, preventing the company from surviving. The main beneficiary of these tactics was Rosneft. It is clearer now than ever that the expropriation of Yukos was a ploy to put key elements of the energy sector in the hands of Putin's retinue. Moreover, the Yukos affair marked a turning point in Russia's commitment to domestic property rights and the rule of law."[|[93]] The fate of Yukos was seen by western media as a sign of a broader shift toward a system normally described as [|state capitalism],[|[94]][|[95]] Against the backdrop of the Yukos saga, questions were raised about the actual destination of $13.1 billion[|[96]] remitted in October 2005 by the state-run [|Gazprom] as payment for 75.7% stake in [|Sibneft] to [|Millhouse]-controlled [|offshore] accounts,[|[97]] after a series of generous dividend payouts and another $3 billion received from Yukos in a failed merger in 2003.[|[98]] In 1996, [|Roman Abramovich] and [|Boris Berezovsky] had acquired the controlling interest in Sibneft for $100 million within the controversial [|loans-for-shares program].[|[99]] Some prominent Yeltsin-era billionaires, such as [|Sergey Pugachyov], are reported to continue to enjoy close relationship with Putin's Kremlin.[|[100]] Although Russia's state intervention in the economy had been usually heavily criticized in the West, a study by Bank of Finland’s Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT) in 2008 showed that state intervention had had a positive impact to [|corporate governance] of many companies in Russia: the formal indications of the quality of corporate governance in Russia were higher in companies with state control or with a stake held by the government.[|[101]]  Vladimir Putin in the cockpit of [|Tupolev Tu-160] strategic bomber (2005). Since February 2006, the political philosophy of Putin's administration has often been described as a "[|Sovereign democracy]", the term being used both with positive and pejorative [|connotations]. 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' interpretation, the government's actions and policies ought above all to enjoy popular support within Russia itself and not be determined from outside the country.[|[102]][|[103]] However, as implied by expert of the [|Carnegie Endowment] [|Masha Lipman], "Sovereign democracy is a Kremlin coinage that conveys two messages: first, that Russia's regime is democratic and, second, that this claim must be accepted, period. Any attempt at verification will be regarded as unfriendly and as meddling in Russia's domestic affairs." [|[104]] Some[[|who?]] Western observers derided the term as a subterfuge to mask what is otherwise known as [|dictatorship].[|[105]] During the term, Putin was widely criticized in the West and also by Russian liberals for what many observers considered a wide-scale crackdown on [|media freedom in Russia]. Since the early 1990s, a number of Russian reporters who have covered the situation in [|Chechnya], contentious stories on organized crime, state and administrative officials, and large businesses have been killed.[|[106]][|[107]] On 7 October 2006, [|Anna Politkovskaya], a journalist who ran a campaign exposing 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 of criticism of Russia in the Western media, with accusations that, at best, Putin has failed to protect the country's new independent media.[|[108]][|[109]] When asked about 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 publications.[|[110]] In January 2008, [|Oleg Panfilov], head of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, claimed that a system of "judicial terrorism" had started against journalists under Putin and that more than 300 criminal cases had been opened against them over the past six years.[|[111]] At the same time, according to 2005 research by [|VCIOM], the share of Russians approving [|censorship] on TV grew in a year from 63% to 82%; sociologists believed that Russians were not voting in favor of press freedom suppression, but rather for expulsion of ethically doubtful material (such as scenes of violence and sex).[|[112]] In June 2007, Putin organised a conference for history teachers to promote a high-school teachers manual called A Modern History of Russia: 1945-2006: A Manual for History Teachers which portrays [|Joseph Stalin] as a cruel but successful leader. Putin said at the conference that the new manual will "help instill young people with a sense of pride in Russia", and he argued that Stalin's [|purges] pale in comparison to the United States' [|atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]. At a memorial for [|Stalin]'s victims, Putin said that while Russians should "keep alive the memory of tragedies of the past, we should focus on all that is best in the country."[|[113]] In a 2007 interview with newspaper journalists from G8 countries, Putin spoke out in favor of a longer presidential term in Russia, saying "a term of five, six or seven years in office would be entirely acceptable".[|[114]][|[115]] On 12 September 2007, Russian news agencies reported that Putin dissolved the government upon the request of Prime Minister [|Mikhail Fradkov]. Fradkov commented that it was to give the President a "free hand" to make decisions in the run-up to the parliamentary election. [|Viktor Zubkov] was appointed the new prime minister.[|[116]] In December 2007, [|United Russia] won 64.24% of the popular vote in their run for [|State Duma] according to election preliminary results.[|[117]] Their closest competitor, the [|Communist Party of Russia], won approximately 12% of votes.[|[118]] 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.[|[119]][|[120]] The end of 2007 saw what both Russian and Western analysts viewed as an increasingly bitter infighting between various factions of the [|siloviki] that make up a significant part of Putin's inner circle.[|[121]][|[122]][|[123]][|[124]][|[125]][|[126]][|[127]][|[128]] In December 2007, the Russian sociologist Igor Eidman (VCIOM) qualified the regime that had solidified under Putin as "the power of bureaucratic [|oligarchy]" which had "the traits of extreme right-wing dictatorship — the dominance of [|state-monopoly] capital in the economy, silovoki structures in governance, [|clericalism] and [|statism] in ideology".[|[129]] Some analysts assess the socio-economic system which has emerged in Russia as profoundly unstable and the situation in the Kremlin after [|Dmitry Medvedev]'s nomination as fraught with a [|coup d'état], as "Putin has built a political construction that resembles a pyramid which rests on its tip, rather than on its base".[|[130]][|[131]] [|Gregory Feifer] wrote in February 2008: "The main lesson we should have learned from Putin's eight years in office is a recognition that under the traditional Russian political system that he has revitalized, not only do officials not mean what they say, but also that obfuscation is essential to the way it all works ... Putin's playing of the Russian political game has been virtuosic."[|[132]] On the eve of his stepping down as president the [|FT] editorialised: "Mr Putin will remain Russia’s real ruler for some time to come. And the ex-KGB men he promoted will stay close to the seat of power."[|[133]] 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",[|[134]] which was interpreted by the Russian media as his "political bequest". The speech was largely devoted to castigating the state of affairs in the 1990s and setting ambitious targets of economic growth by 2020.[|[135]] He also condemned the [|expansion of NATO] and the US plan to include [|Poland] and the [|Czech Republic] in a [|missile defence shield] and promised that "Russia has, and always will have, responses to these new challenges".[|[136]] In his last days in office he 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.[|[137]][|[138]] 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." 

[[|edit]] Internal policy
See also: [|Economy of Russia]  Russian economy since the end of the [|Soviet Union]. Under the Putin administration the economy made [|real gains] of an average 7% per year (2000: 10%, 2001: 5.7%, 2002: 4.9%, 2003: 7.3%, 2004: 7.1%, 2005: 6.5%, 2006: 6.7%, 2007: 8.1%), 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.[|[9]] During Putin's eight years in office, industry grew by 76%, investments increased by 125%,[|[9]] and agricultural production and construction increased as well. Real incomes more than doubled and the average monthly salary increased sevenfold from $80 to $540.[|[6]][|[10]][|[139]] From 2000 to 2006 the volume of consumer credit increased 45 times[|[140]][|[141]] 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.[|[9]][|[142]][|[143]] A number of large-scale reforms in retirement (2002), banking (2001–2004), tax (2000–2003), the monetization of benefits (2005) and others have taken place. In 2001 Putin, who has advocated liberal economic policies, introduced [|flat tax] rate of 13%[|[144]][|[145]]; the corporate rate of tax was also reduced from 35 percent to 24 percent; [|[144]] 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.[|[144]] Overall tax burden is lower in Russia than in most European countries.[|[146]] 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 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.[|[147]] The flow of [|petrodollars] was the foundation of Putin's regime and masked economic woes. The share of oil and gas in Russia's gross domestic product has more than doubled since 1999 and as of Q2 2008 stood at above 30%. Oil and gas account for 50% of Russian budget revenues and 65% of its exports.[|[4]] 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.[|[9]] [|Inflation] remained a problem however, as the government failed to contain the growth of prices. Between 1999–2007 inflation 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.[|[9]] 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,[|[9]] although exports as a whole accounted for only 8.7% of the GDP in 2007, compared to 20% in 2000.[|[148]] There is also a growing gap between rich and poor in Russia. Between 2000–2007 the incomes of the rich grew from approximately 14 times to 17 times larger than the incomes of the poor. The income differentiation ratio shows that the 10% of Russia's rich live increasingly better than the 10% of the poor, amongst whom are mostly pensioners and unskilled workers in depressive regions (see [|Gini coefficient]). 
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[[|edit]] Environmental record
In 2004 President Putin signed the [|Kyoto Protocol] treaty designed to reduce green house gasses. [|[149]] Although, because the Kyoto Protocol limits emissions to a percentage increase or decrease from their 1990 levels Russia did not face mandatory cuts since its greenhouse-gas emissions fell well below the 1990 baseline due to a drop in economic output after the breakup of the Soviet Union.[|[150]] Recently during the past election Putin and his assumed successor have been talking about the need for Russia to crack down on polluting companies and clean up Russia’s environment. He has been quoted as saying “Working to protect nature must become the systematic, daily obligation of state authorities at all levels.” President Medvedev has also been quoted as saying "There is not much they fear because the penalty for environmental damage is frequently 10 times, even 100 times less than the fees to meet environmental requirements." [|[151]][[|dated info]] 

[[|edit]] Foreign policy
Main article: [|Foreign policy of Vladimir Putin] Putin with [|Fidel Castro] in 2000, re-establishing close ties between Russia and Cuba. Putin with [|Supreme Leader of Iran], Ayatollah [|Ali Khamenei], 2007 In [|international affairs], Putin has been publicly and increasingly critical of the [|foreign policies] of the [|US] and other Western countries. Some commentators have linked this increase in hostility towards the West with the global rise in oil prices. [|[152]] In February 2007, at the annual [|Munich Conference on Security Policy], he criticized what he calls the United States' monopolistic dominance in global relations, and pointed out that the United States displayed an "almost uncontained hyper use of force in international relations". He said the result of it is that "no one feels safe! Because no one can feel that [|international law] is like a stone wall that will protect them. Of course such a policy stimulates an arms race."[|[153]] He called for a "fair and democratic world order that would ensure security and prosperity not only for a select few, but for all". He proposed certain initiatives such as establishing international centres for the [|enrichment of uranium] and prevention of [|deploying weapons in outer space].[|[153]] In his January 2007 interview Putin said Russia is in favor of a democratic [|multipolar] world and of strengthening the systems of [|international law].[|[154]] While Putin is often characterised as an [|autocrat] by the Western media and many opposition politicians (most notably, [|Boris Nemtsov], [|Mikhail Kasyanov] and [|Ilya Yashin]),[|[155]][|[156]] his relationship with former American President [|George W. Bush], former [|German] [|Chancellor] [|Gerhard Schröder], former [|French President] [|Jacques Chirac], and [|Italian Prime Minister] [|Silvio Berlusconi] are reported to be personally friendly. Putin's relationship with Germany's new Chancellor, [|Angela Merkel], was reported to be "cooler" and "more business-like" than his partnership with Gerhard Schröder. This observation is often attributed to the fact that Merkel was raised in the former DDR, the country of station of Putin when he was a KGB agent.[|[157]] In the wake of the [|September 11 attacks] on the United States, he agreed to the establishment of coalition military bases in [|Central Asia] before and during the [|US-led invasion of Afghanistan]. Russian nationalists objected to the establishment of any US military presence on the territory of the former Soviet Union, and had expected Putin to keep the US out of the Central Asian republics, or at the very least extract a commitment from Washington to withdraw from these bases as soon as the immediate military necessity had passed. During the [|Iraq crisis of 2003], Putin opposed Washington's move to invade [|Iraq] without the benefit of a [|United Nations Security Council] resolution explicitly authorizing the use of military force. After the official end of the war was announced, American President [|George W. Bush] asked the United Nations to lift sanctions on [|Iraq]. Putin supported lifting of the sanctions in due course, arguing that the [|UN] commission first be given a chance to complete its work on the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.  Putin with [|Gerhard Schröder] in 2005. In 2005, Putin and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder negotiated the construction of a [|major gas pipeline over the Baltic] exclusively between Russia and Germany. Schröder also attended Putin's 53rd birthday in Saint Petersburg the same year. The [|CIS], seen in Moscow as its traditional [|sphere of influence], became one of the foreign policy priorities under Putin, as the [|EU] and [|NATO] have grown to encompass much of [|Central Europe] and, more recently, the [|Baltic states]. During the [|2004 Ukrainian presidential election], Putin twice visited Ukraine before the election to show his support for [|Ukrainian Prime Minister] [|Viktor Yanukovych], who was widely seen as a pro-Kremlin candidate, and he congratulated him on his anticipated victory before the official election returns had been announced. Putin's personal support for Yanukovych was criticised as unwarranted interference in the affairs of a sovereign state. Crises also developed in Russia's relations with [|Georgia] and [|Moldova], both former Soviet republics who accused Moscow of supporting separatist entities in their territories. [|John McCain] views Moscow's policies under Putin towards these states to be attempts to bully them.[|[158]] Putin took an active personal part in promoting the [|Act of Canonical Communion with the Moscow Patriarchate] signed 17 May 2007 that restored relations between the Moscow-based [|Russian Orthodox Church] and the [|Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia] after the 80-year schism.[|[159]] In his annual address to the [|Federal Assembly] on 26 April 2007, Putin announced plans to declare a moratorium on the observance of the [|CFE Treaty] by Russia until all NATO members ratified it and started observing its provisions, as Russia had been doing on a unilateral basis. Putin argues that as new NATO members have not even signed the treaty so far, an imbalance in the presence of NATO and Russian armed forces in Europe creates a real threat and an unpredictable situation for Russia.[|[160]] NATO members said they would refuse to ratify the treaty until Russia complied with its 1999 commitments made in [|Istanbul] whereby Russia should remove troops and military equipment from [|Moldova] and [|Georgia]. The [|Russian Foreign Minister], [|Sergey Lavrov], was quoted as saying in response that "Russia has long since fulfilled all its Istanbul obligations relevant to CFE".[|[161]] Russia suspended its participation in the CFE as of midnight [|Moscow time] on 11 December 2007.[|[162]][|[163]] On 12 December 2007, the United States officially said it "deeply regretted the Russian Federation's decision to 'suspend' implementation of its obligations under the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE)." State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, in a written statement, claimed that "Russia's conventional forces are the largest on the European continent, and its unilateral action damages this successful arms control regime."[|[164]] NATO's primary concern arising from Russia's suspension was that Moscow could accelerate its military presence in the [|North Caucasus].[|[165]] The months following Putin's [|Munich] speech[|[153]] were marked by tension and a surge in rhetoric on both sides of the Atlantic. So, Vladimir Putin said at the anniversary of the [|Victory Day], "these threats are not becoming fewer but are only transforming and changing their appearance. These new threats, just as under the [|Third Reich], show the same contempt for human life and the same aspiration to establish an exclusive dictate over the world."[|[166]] On the eve of the 33rd Summit of the G8 in [|Heiligendamm], neoconservative author [|Anne Applebaum] opined that "Whether by waging [|cyberwarfare on Estonia], threatening the gas supplies of Lithuania, or boycotting [|Georgian wine] and Polish meat, he [Putin] has, over the past few years, made it clear that he intends to reassert Russian influence in the former communist states of Europe, whether those states want Russian influence or not. At the same time, he has also made it clear that he no longer sees Western nations as mere benign trading partners, but rather as [|Cold War]-style threats."[|[167]] [|Max Hastings] opined that a scenario of military confrontation reminiscent of the [|Cold War] was unlikely, he stated his belief that warm ties between Russia and the West was untenable notion.[|[168]] Both Russian and American officials always denied the idea of a new Cold War. The US defence secretary [|Robert Gates] said on the Munich Conference: "We all face many common problems and challenges that must be addressed in partnership with other countries, including Russia. ... One Cold War was quite enough."[|[169]] Vladimir Putin said prior to 33rd G8 Summit, on 4 June: "we do not want confrontation; we want to engage in dialogue. However, we want a dialogue that acknowledges the equality of both parties’ interests."[|[114]] Putin publicly opposed plans for the [|U.S. missile shield] in Europe, and presented President [|George W. Bush] with a counterproposal on 7 June 2007 of modernising and sharing the use of the Soviet-era [|Gabala] radar station in [|Azerbaijan] rather than building a new system in the [|Czech Republic]. Putin proposed it would not be necessary to place interceptor missiles in Poland then, but interceptors could be placed in NATO member [|Turkey] or [|Iraq]. Putin suggested also equal involvement of interested European countries in the project.[|[170]]  Leaders of the [|CIS] at [|the Kremlin] on 26 January 2000. In a 4 June 2007, interview to journalists of [|G8] countries, when answering the question of whether Russian nuclear forces may be focused on European targets in case "the United States continues building a strategic shield in [|Poland] and the [|Czech Republic]", Putin admitted that "if part of the United States’ nuclear capability is situated in Europe and that our military experts consider that they represent a potential threat then we will have to take appropriate retaliatory steps. What steps? Of course we must have new targets in Europe."[|[114]][|[171]][|[172]] The end of 2006 brought strained [|relations between Russia and the United Kingdom] in the wake of the death by poisoning of [|Alexander Litvinenko] in London. On 20 July 2007 [|UK Prime Minister] [|Gordon Brown] expelled four Russian [|envoys] over Russia's refusal to extradite [|Andrei Lugovoi] to face charges on the alleged murder of Litvinenko.[|[173]] The Russian constitution prohibits the extradition of Russian nationals to third countries. [|British Foreign Secretary] [|David Miliband] said that "this situation is not unique, and other countries have amended their constitutions, for example to give effect to the European Arrest Warrant".[|[174]] Miliband's statement was widely publicized by [|Russian media] as a British proposal to change the Russian constitution.[|[175]][|[176]][|[177]] According to [|VCIOM], 62% of Russians are against changing the Constitution in this respect.[|[178]] The [|British Ambassador in Moscow] [|Tony Brenton] said that the UK is not asking Russia to break its Constitution, but rather interpret it in such a way that would make Lugovoi's extradition possible.[|[179]] At a meeting with Russian youth organisations, he stated that the [|United Kingdom] was acting like a [|colonial power] with a mindset stuck in the 19th or 20th centuries, due to their belief that Russia could change its constitution. He also stated, "They say we should change our Constitution – advice that I view as insulting for our country and our people. They need to change their thinking and not tell us to change our Constitution."[|[180]][|[181]] When [|Litvinenko] was dying from radiation poisoning, he allegedly accused Putin of directing the assassination in a statement which was released shortly after his death by his friend [|Alex Goldfarb].[|[182]] Goldfarb, who is also the chairman of [|Boris Berezovsky]'s [|International Foundation for Civil Liberties], claimed Litvinenko had dictated it to him three days earlier. [|Andrei Nekrasov] said his friend Litvinenko and Litvinenko's lawyer composed the statement in Russian on 21 November and translated it to English.[|[183]] Critics have doubted that Litvinenko is the true author of the released statement.[|[184]][|[185]][|[186]] When asked about the Litvinenko accusations, Putin said that a statement released after death of its author "naturally deserves no comment", and stated his belief it was being used for political purposes.[|[187]][|[188]] Contradicting his previous claim, Goldfarb later stated that Litvinenko instructed him to write a note "in good English" in which Putin was to be accused of his poisoning. Goldfarb also stated that he read the note to Litvinenko in English and Russian, to which he claims Litvinenko agreed "with every word of it" and signed it.[|[189]] The expulsions were seen as "the biggest rift since the countries expelled each other's diplomats in 1996 after a spying dispute." In response to the situation, Putin stated "I think we will overcome this mini-crisis. Russian-British relations will develop normally. On both the Russian side and the British side, we are interested in the development of those relations." Despite this, British Ambassador [|Tony Brenton] was told by the [|Russian Foreign Ministry] that UK diplomats would be given 10 days before they were expelled in response. The Russian government also announced that it would suspend issuing visas to UK officials and froze cooperation on counterterrorism in response to Britain suspending contacts with their [|Federal Security Service].[|[173]] [|Alexander Shokhin], president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs warned that British investors in Russia will "face greater scrutiny from tax and regulatory authorities. [And] They could also lose out in government tenders". Some see the crisis as originating with Britain's decision to grant Putin's former patron, Russian billionaire [|Boris Berezovsky], political asylum in 2003. Earlier in 2007, Berezovsky had called for the overthrow of Putin.[|[173]]  [|President Bush] and [|Putin] at the [|33rd G8 summit], June 2007. On 10 December 2007, Russia ordered the [|British Council] to halt work at its regional offices in what was seen as the latest round of a dispute over the murder of Alexander Litvinenko; Britain said Russia's move was illegal.[|[190]] Following the Peace Mission 2007 military exercises jointly conducted by the [|SCO] member states, Putin announced on 17 August 2007 the resumption on a permanent basis of long-distance patrol flights of Russia's strategic bombers that were suspended in 1992.[|[191]][|[192]] US State Department spokesman [|Sean McCormack] was quoted as saying in response that "if Russia feels as though they want to take some of these old aircraft out of mothballs and get them flying again, that's their decision."[|[192]] The announcement made during the SCO summit in the light of joint Russian-Chinese military exercises, first-ever in history to be held on Russian territory,[|[193]] makes some believe that Putin is inclined to set up an anti-[|NATO] bloc or the Asian version of [|OPEC].[|[194]] When presented with the suggestion that "Western observers are already likening the SCO to a military organisation that would stand in opposition to NATO", Putin answered that "this kind of comparison is inappropriate in both form and substance".[|[191]] Russian Chief of the General Staff [|Yury Baluyevsky] was quoted as saying that "there should be no talk of creating a military or political alliance or union of any kind, because this would contradict the founding principles of SCO".[|[193]] The resumption of long-distance flights of Russia's strategic bombers was followed by the announcement by Russian Defense Minister [|Anatoliy Serdyukov] during his meeting with Putin on 5 December 2007, that 11 ships, including the aircraft carrier [|//Kuznetsov//], would take part in the first major navy sortie into the Mediterranean since Soviet times.[|[195]] The sortie was to be backed up by 47 aircraft, including strategic bombers.[|[196]] According to Serdyukov, this is an effort to resume regular Russian naval patrols on the world's oceans,[|[197]] the view that is also supported by Russian media.[|[198]] In September 2007, Putin visited [|Indonesia] and in doing so became the first Russian leader to visit the country in more than 50 years.[|[199]] In the same month, Putin also attended the [|APEC] meeting held in [|Sydney], [|Australia] where he met with [|Australian Prime Minister] [|John Howard] and signed a uranium trade deal. This was the first visit by a Russian president to Australia. On 16 October 2007 Putin visited [|Iran] to participate in the Second Caspian Summit in [|Tehran],[|[200]][|[201]] where he met with [|Iranian President] [|Mahmoud Ahmadinejad][|[202]]. Other participants were leaders of [|Azerbaijan], [|Kazakhstan], and [|Turkmenistan].[|[203]] This is the first visit of a Soviet or Russian leader to Iran since [|Joseph Stalin]'s participation in the [|Tehran Conference] in 1943.[|[204]] At a press conference after the summit Putin said that "all our (Caspian) states have the right to develop their peaceful nuclear programmes without any restrictions".[|[205]] During the summit it was also agreed that its participants, under no circumstances, would let any third-party state use their territory as a base for aggression or military action against any other participant.[|[200]] On 26 October 2007, at a press conference following the 20th [|Russia–EU Summit] in [|Portugal], Putin proposed creating a Russian-European Institute for Freedom and Democracy headquartered either in Brussels or in one of the European capitals, and added that "we are ready to supply funds for financing it, just as Europe covers the costs of projects in Russia".[|[206]] This newly proposed institution is expected to monitor human rights violations in Europe and contribute to development of European democracy.[|[207]] Vladimir Putin strongly opposes the secession of [|Kosovo] from [|Serbia]. He called any support for this act "immoral" and "illegal".[|[208]] He described Kosovo's declaration of independence a "terrible precedent" that will come back to hit the West "in the face".[|[209]] He stated that the Kosovo precedent will de facto destroy the whole system of international relations, developed not over decades, but over centuries.[|[210]] Another neoconservative [|Robert Kagan], reflecting on what underlay the fundamental rift between Putin's Russia and the EU wrote in February 2008: " Europe's nightmares are the 1930s; Russia's nightmares are the 1990s. Europe sees the answer to its problems in transcending the nation-state and power. For Russians, the solution is in restoring them. So what happens when a 21st-century entity faces the challenge of a 19th-century power? The contours of the conflict are already emerging—in diplomatic stand-offs over Kosovo, Ukraine, Georgia and Estonia; in conflicts over gas and oil pipelines; in nasty diplomatic exchanges between Russia and Britain; and in a return to Russian military exercises of a kind not seen since the Cold War. Europeans are apprehensive, with good reason."[|[211]] Talks on a new Partnership and Co-operation Agreement (PCA), signed in 1997, remained stymied till the end of Putin's presidency due to vetos by Poland and later [|Lithuania].[|[212]] A [|January 2009 dispute] led [|state-controlled] Russian company [|Gazprom] to halt its deliveries of [|natural gas] to Ukraine.[|[213]] During the crisis, Putin hinted that [|Ukraine] is run by criminals who cannot solve economic problems.[|[214]] 

[[|edit]] Support and popularity
  Putin's approval (blue) and disapproval (red) ratings during his eight year presidency.[|[215]] According to public opinion surveys conducted by [|Levada Center], Putin's approval rating was 81% in June 2007, and the highest of any leader in the world.[|[216]] His popularity rose from 31% in August 1999 to 80% in November 1999 and since then it has never fallen below 65%.[|[217]] Observers see Putin's high approval ratings as a consequence of the significant improvements in living standards and Russia's reassertion of itself on the world scene that occurred during his tenure as President.[|[218]][|[219]][|[220]] Most Russians are also deeply disillusioned with the West after all the hardships of 90s,[|[221]][|[222]] and they no longer trust pro-western politicians associated with Yeltsin that were removed from the political scene under Putin's leadership.[|[222]] In early 2005, a youth organization called [|Nashi] (meaning 'Ours' or 'Our Own People') was created in Russia, which positions itself as a democratic, anti-fascist organization. Its creation was encouraged by some of the most senior figures in the Administration of the President,[|[223]] and by 2007 it grew to some 120,000 members (between the ages of 17 and 25). One of Nashi's major stated aims was to prevent a repeat of the 2004 [|Orange Revolution] during the Russian elections: as its leader [|Vasily Yakemenko] said, "the enemies must not perform unconstitutional takeovers".[|[224]] Kremlin adviser, Sergei Markov said about the activists of Nashi: "They want Russia to be a modern, strong and free country... Their ideology is clear — it is modernization of the country and preservation of its sovereignty with that."[|[225]] A joint poll by World Public Opinion in the U. S. and NGO Levada Center [|[226]] in Russia around June–July 2006 stated that "neither the Russian nor the American publics are convinced Russia is headed in an anti-democratic direction" and "Russians generally support Putin’s concentration of political power and strongly support the re-nationalization of Russia’s oil and gas industry." Russians generally support the political course of Putin and his team.[|[227]] A 2005 survey showed that three times as many Russians felt the country was "more democratic" under Putin than it was during the Yeltsin or Gorbachev years, and the same proportion thought human rights were better under Putin than Yeltsin.[|[228]]. Putin was [|Time] magazine's [|Person of the Year] for 2007[|[229]][|[230]], given the title for his "extraordinary feat of leadership in taking a country that was in chaos and bringing it stability".[|[231]] Time said that "TIME's Person of the Year is not and never has been an honor. It is not an endorsement. It is not a popularity contest. At its best, it is a clear-eyed recognition of the world as it is and of the most powerful individuals and forces shaping that world—for better or for worse". The choice provoked sarcasm from one of Russia's opposition leaders, Garry Kasparov,[|[232]] who recalled that [|Adolf Hitler] had been Time's Man of the Year in 1938 and an overwhelmingly negative reaction from the magazine's readership.[|[233]] On 4 December 2007, at [|Harvard University], [|Mikhail Gorbachev] credited Putin with having "pulled Russia out of chaos" and said he was "assured a place in history", "despite Gorbachev's acknowledgment that the news media have been suppressed and that election rules run counter to the democratic ideals he has promoted".[|[234]] In August 2007, photographs of Putin were taken while he was vacationing in the Siberian mountains. The Russian tabloid [|Komsomolskaya Pravda] published a huge colour photo of the bare-chested president under the headline: "Be Like Putin."[|[235]] Putin's name and image are widely used in advertisement and product branding. Among the Putin-branded products are [|Putinka] vodka, [|PuTin] brand of canned food, [|caviar] Gorbusha Putina, [|Denis Simachev]'s collection of T-shirts decorated by images of Putin, etc.[|[236]] 

[[|edit]] Criticism
See also: [|Criticism of Vladimir Putin] Despite widespread public support in Russia, Putin has also been the target of much criticism. Several government actions made under Putin’s presidency have been criticized by some independent Russian media outlets and many Western commentators as anti-democratic.[|[237]][|[238]][|[239]]. In 2006 and 2007, "[|Dissenters' Marches]" were organized by the opposition group [|Other Russia],[|[240]] 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.[|[241]][|[242]] The Dissenters' Marches have received little support among the Russian general public, according to popular polls. [|[243]] The Dissenters' March in Samara held in May 2007 during the Russia-EU summit attracted more journalists providing coverage of the event than actual participants.[|[244]] When asked in what way the Dissenters' Marches bother him, Putin answered that such marches "shall not prevent other citizens from living a normal life".[|[245]] During the Dissenters' March in Saint Petersburg on 3 March 2007, the protesters blocked automobile traffic on Nevsky Prospect, the central street of the city, much to the disturbance of local drivers.[|[246]][|[247]] The Governor of [|Saint Petersburg], [|Valentina Matvienko], commented on the event that "it is important to give everyone the opportunity to criticize the authorities, but this should be done in a civilized fashion".[|[247]] When asked about Kasparov's arrest, Putin replied that during his arrest Kasparov was speaking English rather than Russian, and suggested that he was targeting a Western audience rather than his own people.[|[248]][|[249]] Putin has said that some domestic critics are being funded and supported by foreign enemies who would prefer to see a weak Russia.[|[250]] In his speech at the [|United Russia] meeting in [|Luzhniki]: "Those who oppose us don't want us to realize our plan.... They need a weak, sick state! They need a disorganized and disoriented society, a divided society, so that they can do their deeds behind its back and eat cake on our tab."[|[251]]. In July 2007, [|Bret Stephens] of [|The Wall Street Journal] wrote: "Russia has become, in the precise sense of the word, a fascist state. It does not matter here, as the Kremlin's apologists are so fond of pointing out, that Mr. Putin is wildly popular in Russia: Popularity is what competent despots get when they destroy independent media, stoke nationalistic fervor with military buildups and the cunning exploitation of the Church, and ride a wave of petrodollars to pay off the civil service and balance their budgets. Nor does it matter that Mr. Putin hasn't re-nationalized the "means of production" outright; corporatism was at the heart of Hitler's economic policy, too." [|[252]] In its January 2008 World Report, [|Human Rights Watch] wrote in the section devoted to Russia: "As parliamentary and presidential elections in late 2007 and early 2008 approached, the administration headed by President Vladimir Putin cracked down on civil society and freedom of assembly. Reconstruction in Chechnya did not mask grave human rights abuses including torture, abductions, and unlawful detentions. International criticism of Russia’s human rights record remains muted, with the European Union failing to challenge Russia on its human rights record in a consistent and sustained manner."[|[253]] The organization called President Putin a "repressive" and "brutal" leader on par with the leaders of Zimbabwe and Pakistan.[|[254]] On 28 January 2008, [|Gorbachev] in his interview to [|Interfax][|[255]] "sharply criticized the state of Russia’s electoral system and called for extensive reforms to a system that has secured power for President Vladimir V. Putin and the Kremlin’s inner circle."[|[256]] Following Gorbachev's interview [|The Washington Post]'s editorial said: "No wonder that Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union's last leader, felt moved to speak out. "Something wrong is going on with our elections", he told the Interfax agency. But it's not only elections: In fact, the system that Mr. Gorbachev took apart is being meticulously reconstructed."[|[257]] In April 2008, Putin was put on the Time [|100 most influential people in the world] list.[|[258]] [|Madeleine Albright] wrote: "After our first meetings, in 1999 and 2000, I described him in my journal as "shrewd, confident, hard-working, patriotic, and ingratiating." In the years since, he has become more confident and — to Westerners — decidedly less ingratiating." She added "It is unlikely that Putin, 55, will wear out his welcome at home anytime soon, as he has nearly done with many democracies abroad. In the meantime, he will remain an irritant to [|NATO], a source of division within Europe and yet another reason for the West to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels."

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