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Toward the end of Yeltsin’s tenure as president, Vladimir Putin began playing a more important role. During the Soviet period, he joined the KGB and worked in East Germany for many years. Fluent in German and proficient in English, Putin worked for the liberal mayor of St. Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak, in the initial post-Soviet period and ended up in Moscow when Sobchak failed to be reelected mayor in 1996. In July 1998 Putin became director of the Federal Security Service, one of the successor organizations of the KGB, and in August 1999 Yeltsin plucked Putin out of relative obscurity for the post of prime minister.
Separatism
As prime minister, Putin blamed Chechen secessionists for the bombing of several apartment buildings that killed scores of Russian civilians, prompting the Moscow government to send Russian forces into the republic once again. (Evidence never proved Chechen involvement in these bombings, leading some to believe that the Russian intelligence services played a role in them.) The campaign enjoyed some initial success, with Grozny falling quickly to the Russians. Putin’s popularity soared, and Yeltsin, having chosen Putin as his successor, resigned on December 31, 1999. Putin became acting president, and his first official act as president was to grant Yeltsin a pardon for any illegal activities he might have committed during his administration.
In the presidential election held in March 2000, Putin easily defeated Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov in the first round of balloting, winning 52.9 percent of the vote to secure a full term as president. Although the Russian military was able to win control of Chechnya, Chechen fighters fled to the mountains and hills, threatening Russian forces with a prolonged guerilla war. Fighting continued during the next two years, but by 2002 it had abated, and Putin, confident in Russia’s military position, sought talks with what remained of the Chechen leadership. Nevertheless, in October 2002, Chechen separatists seized a Moscow theatre and threatened to kill all those inside; Putin responded by ordering special forces to raid the theatre, and during the operation some 130 hostages died—mostly as the result of inhaling gas released by the security forces in order to subdue the terrorists.
Despite worries arising from his years working for the intelligence services, many Russians came to believe that Putin’s coolness and decisiveness would enable him to establish economic and political order in the country and deal with the Chechen problem. After years of Yeltsin’s unpredictable behaviour, the upsurge in violent crime, and the decline in both living standards and Russia’s prestige abroad, Russians were ready for a leader with an agenda and the mental capacity to implement it. Putin soon moved to reassert central control over the country’s 89 regions by dividing the country into seven administrative districts, each of which would be overseen by a presidential appointee. The new districts were created to root out corruption, keep an eye on the local governors, and ensure that Moscow’s will and laws were enforced. During the Yeltsin years, contradictions between Russian federal law and that of the regions had created great chaos in the Russian legal system, and Putin worked to establish the supremacy of Russian Federation law throughout the country. Putin even enjoyed success in taming the independent-minded regions, as the republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan reluctantly brought their constitutions into accord with that of the Russian Federation in 2002.
Foreign affairs
Although Putin hoped to maintain a strategic partnership with the United States, he focused on strengthening Russia’s relations (both security and economic) with Europe, particularly Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, after the September 11 attacks in 2001 on the United States by al-Qaeda, Putin was the first foreign leader to telephone U.S. Pres. George W. Bush to offer sympathy and help in combating terrorism. Moreover, Russia established a council with NATO on which it sat as an equal alongside NATO’s 19 members. Russia also reacted calmly when the United States officially abandoned the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002, established temporary military bases in several of the former Soviet states in Central Asia, and dispatched special forces on a training mission to Georgia, where there were suspected al-Qaeda training bases.
However, Putin was wary of U.S. unilateralism and worked to strengthen Russian ties with China and India and maintain ties with Iran. In 2002–03 he opposed military intervention against Iraq by the United States and the United Kingdom and developed a joint position with France and Germany that favoured a more stringent inspections regime of Iraq’s suspected weapons of mass destruction program rather than the use of military force (see also Iraq War).
Putin brought new life to the CIS by providing relatively active Russian leadership, in sharp contrast to the Yeltsin years, and he strengthened Russia’s ties with the Central Asian republics in order to maintain Russian influence in this vital area. Under Yeltsin the Russian army, starved of funds, had lost much of its effectiveness and technological edge. Russian defeats in the first Chechen war only underlined the appalling state in which the armed forces found itself. Through greater arms sales, Putin hoped to increase funding for the armed forces, particularly for personnel and for the research and development sector of the Russian military industrial complex.
The oligarchs
Putin also took steps to limit the political and economic power of the infamous oligarchs, whom many Russians considered to be thieves and one of the main causes of the myriad problems facing Russia. Although Putin did not and could not destroy the business elite, he made it clear that certain limits on their behaviour would be expected. Those oligarchs who were either openly against Putin during the presidential campaign or critical of his policies faced the Kremlin’s wrath. For example, in 2001 Vladimir Gusinsky and Boris Berezovsky, two of Russia’s richest men, were stripped of their electronic media holdings, and Berezovsky was removed from his position of influence at Russian Public Television, Russia’s most widely watched television channel. And in 2003 Russia’s richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of the oil giant Yukos, was arrested and eventually convicted of fraud and tax evasion. The campaign against certain oligarchs caused fear among many about Putin’s commitment to freedom of speech and the press. During the Yeltsin era the media had become a tool in the hands of the oligarchs, who used their individual media outlets in their battles with each other and with political figures. On the other hand, certain television stations consistently contradicted the reports of government-controlled stations on issues such as corruption and the wars in Chechnya, thereby providing an alternative source to government news sources. While under Yeltsin the government did not try to reassert control over the mass media, television networks (or their owners) seen as unfriendly to Putin and his policies faced closure by the government—usually on charges of nonpayment of taxes and financial mismanagement.
Political and economic reforms
Putin proved adept at constructing a stable relationship with the Duma. Yeltsin’s automatic hostility to the Communist Party had resulted in a shaky relationship with the Duma and an inability to obtain passage of a number of reform measures. Putin was better able to work with the parties in the Duma and secured the passage of bills that reformed the tax, judicial, labour, and bankruptcy systems, provided property rights, adopted national symbols and the flag, and approved arms treaties. In addition, unlike Yeltsin, Putin was not inclined to frequent changes in the cabinet or premiership, thereby creating conditions for policy consistency and political stability that ordinary Russians appreciated. Putin also attempted to reduce the number of political parties—in particular, regional parties—in Russia by requiring that parties have registered offices and at least 10,000 members in at least half of Russia’s regions to compete in national elections.
Despite some domestic opposition, Putin pursued economic reforms, believing that the Russian economy’s long-term health was tied to deep structural reforms that the Yeltsin administration had ignored, though implementing such reforms proved difficult. Putin secured passage of legislation creating a new tax code that simplified and streamlined the tax system in order to encourage individuals and businesses to pay taxes and to improve the efficiency of paying and collecting taxes. As a result of these measures, the state’s rate of tax collection dramatically increased. Coupled with a surge in income from the increase in world oil prices, the Russian government enjoyed a budget surplus and was able pay off some of its external debt. Putin was also keen to attract foreign investment into Russia in order to reduce Russia’s dependence on Western loans (which he believed threatened the country’s national interests and long-term economic prospects) and to help finance the refurbishment and expansion of Russian industry. Russia also sought to increase its exports by promoting the sale of oil, natural gas, and arms. The reforms implemented by Putin—as well as his demeanour—produced political stability and economic vitality not seen in the country during the 1990s and gave Russia a sense of confidence as it entered the 21st century.
Putin’s presidency also witnessed a change in the way Russians viewed the Soviet past. Whereas under Yeltsin popular histories and general opinion were critical of the Soviet period and nostalgic for the prerevolutionary period, during Putin’s tenure aspects of the Soviet period—for example, the victory in World War II, Russia’s superpower status, and even the Stalinist period—were again glorified (Stalin was described in one teaching manual as “the most successful leader of the U.S.S.R.”), and this dualism was reflected in the country’s symbols. Despite nostalgia among some communists for the Soviet period and uncertainty among many about the future, by the early 21st century Russia seemed poised to set upon the long path of economic and political development. However, deep structural problems in the economy remained, and the number of people living in poverty remained high.
Dominic LievenDespite criticism that he had centralized too much power in the presidency and was curtailing freedoms won with the dismantling of the Soviet Union, Putin remained popular and was reelected in 2004 in a landslide, garnering more than 70 percent of the vote. During his second term, Putin’s popularity continued to be high, and speculation loomed that he, constitutionally ineligible to run for another term in office because of term limits, might engineer a change to the constitution to allow him to be reelected. Instead, Putin surprised many observers in October 2007 by announcing that he would head the list of the pro-Putin United Russia party in parliamentary elections. In December 2007 United Russia won more than three-fifths of the vote and 315 of the Duma’s 450 seats. Less than two weeks later, Putin anointed First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as his successor as president for the 2008 elections. In turn, Medvedev subsequently announced that he would appoint Putin prime minister if his campaign succeeded, thus giving Putin a platform by which to continue his dominance of Russian politics. In March 2008, in a contest that some Western election observers (such as the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) considered not fully fair or democratic, Medvedev was easily elected president, winning 70 percent of the vote. Medvedev took office on May 7, 2008; Putin was confirmed as prime minister the next day.
The Medvedev presidency
Just three months into his presidency, Medvedev was confronted with a growing military conflict between Russia’s neighbour Georgia and South Ossetia, a separatist region of Georgia that borders the Russian republic of North Ossetia–Alania. As fighting between Georgian and Ossetian forces escalated in August 2008, Russia sent thousands of troops across the border with the goal of supporting rebels in not only South Ossetia but also Abkhazia, another separatist region within Georgia. Despite a French-brokered cease-fire, hostilities continued, and Russian troops remained in Georgia. Russia’s actions heightened tensions between it and the West. In response to condemnation from NATO, which Georgia hoped to join, Russia suspended its cooperation with the Atlantic alliance. In September the Russian government agreed to withdraw its troops from Georgia; however, it planned to maintain a military presence in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, whose independence it had recognized.
Meanwhile, sporadic fighting between Russian forces and local militants continued elsewhere in the Caucasus region, particularly in the Russian republics of Ingushetiya and Chechnya. By early 2009 the conflict in Chechnya appeared to have abated, and that April Medvedev announced the end of Russia’s counterinsurgency operations there. Despite this official pronouncement, clashes between security forces and militants in the Caucasus continued to occur, as did militant attacks on local officials and infrastructure. Later in 2009 militants assassinated political figures in Ingushetiya and Dagestan, and early in 2010 a Chechen rebel leader warned that attacks would be made in Russian cities. In March 2010 two female suicide bombers, believed to be linked to an extremist group in the Caucasus, detonated explosives that killed more than three dozen people in the Moscow Metro.
That summer, amid a withering heat wave and drought, hundreds of wildfires blazed in numerous regions of western and central Russia. Many of the fires proved difficult to extinguish, particularly those that burned underground in drained peat bogs, releasing vast amounts of smoke.
In December 2010 Khodorkovsky, who was nearing the end of his initial sentence, was found guilty of additional charges of embezzlement and money laundering, and he was ultimately sentenced to an additional six years in prison.
As 2011 progressed, Russians wondered if Medvedev would stand for reelection in 2012. He ended months of speculation in September 2011 when he announced that he and Putin would, in essence, trade jobs. Putin would run for president and, if elected, would likely appoint Medvedev prime minister. The plan for a seamless succession hit a snag on December 4, 2011, when United Russia suffered sharp and surprising losses in parliamentary elections. Although it retained a simple majority in the Duma, having captured just under 50 percent of the vote, the party lost the two-thirds majority that had allowed it to make changes to the constitution. International observers characterized the election as lacking fairness, and the Russian monitoring group Golos registered more than 5,000 complaints of voting violations. Within days of the election, an estimated 50,000 people gathered near the Kremlin to protest the results. Putin dismissed the display—the largest such demonstration since the fall of the Soviet Union—and claimed that the protesters were “paid agents of the West.”
As resistance to Putin intensified, the Medvedev administration claimed a victory in one of Russia’s longest-standing policy goals. After 18 years of negotiations, Russia joined the World Trade Organization on December 16, 2011, the last member of the Group of 20 to join. Independent analyses of the December vote uncovered pervasive irregularities, including statistically unlikely voter turnout levels and final results that were wildly at odds with preliminary counts. Organized protests continued into 2012, and in February of that year an estimated 30,000 people formed a human chain around the centre of Moscow.