Putin's position is the President of the Russian Federation. He has been leading our country since May 7, 2000, with a break of four years, when Dmitry Medvedev was the head of state. Putin is currently in his fourth term in office, starting on May 7, 2018. In this article, we will talk about the position of president, who Putin was before, what posts he held in the 90s under the country's first president, Boris Yeltsin.
President
President - Putin's position, which is the highest government post in the Russian Federation. The President is also the head of 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 assessing the current state of the state and politics in the country note that in Russia the president cannot be attributed to one particular branch of power. He is likerises above all of them, as it performs coordinating functions. Proof of this is the fact that the President of the Russian Federation has the right to dissolve the State Duma - the body of legislative power.
Under the current Constitution, the president is considered its guarantor, as well as the guarantor of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen. In addition, he holds the post of Supreme Commander, in fact, towering over all 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
Putin's current position is the highest post in modern Russia. Therefore, it is interesting how he came to him, what was his path, who should have worked earlier in order 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 Baskov lane. He later recalled that from childhood he was fond of films about intelligence officers, which predetermined the choice of his profession.
By 1965, he graduated from the eight-year school, after which he went to study at a special school with a chemical bias. Almost immediately after graduation, he went to the local KGB office, talking about his plans to become an intelligence officer. He was listened to and advised to get an in-depth humanitarian education first.
He entered the law faculty of Leningrad State University. As a student, he enteredCommunist 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 Leningrad State University.
Serving in the security forces
The hero of our article systematically walked 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 bodies of state security with the rank of senior lieutenant of justice.
Since 1977, he was transferred through counterintelligence to the investigative department of the Leningrad department.
In the mid-80s, Putin, already in the rank of major, was trained in the line of legal and illegal intelligence. From 1985 to 1990 he worked in the German Democratic Republic in the line of foreign intelligence. In particular, he worked as part of a reconnaissance group in East Germany. The sphere of his interests at that time included the countries of Western Europe, which were considered allies of the United States. First of all, of course, Germany.
After the end of the business trip and return to the USSR, Putin refused to be transferred to the central office of the KGB. He retired from the authorities with the rank of lieutenant colonel in August 1991 after Sobchak's speech against the State Emergency Committee.
Working with Sobchak
Putin officially remained in the state security service, since 1990 his native Leningrad State University was his actual place of work. He was an assistant to Rector Stanislav Merkuriev, in charge of international affairs. It was Merkuriev who recommended Putin to Sobchak asresponsible and executive employee.
Putin's position since May 1990 - adviser to Sobchak, head of the city council of deputies of Leningrad. When Anatoly Aleksandrovich won the election of the mayor of the city in June 1991, the hero of our article moved to the city administration, taking the place of the head of the foreign relations committee. He attracted investments in the Northern capital, oversaw cooperation with foreign companies, and was responsible for the development of tourism.
Since the spring of 1994, he received the post of Sobchak's first deputy. Putin's former position remained with him, he still headed the committee.
Moving to Moscow
Putin's move to Moscow took place in August 1996, after the defeat of Anatoly Sobchak in the gubernatorial elections. He received the position of deputy manager of the president. At that time, this position was held by Pavel Borodin. This is Putin's first post in Moscow.
Already in March 1997, he headed the main control department of the President of Russia, since then he has actually been working in Yeltsin's team. In the spring of 1998, he was promoted to first deputy head of the administration.
An important milestone in his career is associated with July 1998. Putin's new position is director of the Federal Security Service. Already in the fall, he began a large-scale reorganization of the department. In particular, he is credited with ensuring uninterrupted funding, increasing salaries for employees.
It is believed that the 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 headed the Russian government in the status of prime minister. On the same day, Yeltsin recorded a televised address in which he named Putin as his successor.
Unpopular in the past, the politician needed to be urgently "promoted" so that he would come to victory in the upcoming presidential elections. 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. Here are the positions Putin held under Yeltsin.
Elections were held on March 26, 2000. Putin won them a landslide victory, gaining nearly 53 percent of the vote in the first round. Putin's official inauguration as President of Russia took place 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, Alexei Podberezkin, Yuri Skuratov and Stanislav Govorukhin. Ella Pamfilova crossed the one percent threshold, about one and a half percent of voters voted for Konstantin Titov.
Fifth place went to Vladimir Zhirinovsky, whose popularity has fallen significantly since 1991, when his party won elections to the State Duma. He received only 2.7% of the vote. Aman Tuleev was fourth (2.95%), Grigory was thirdYavlinsky - 5.8%.
Putin's main competitor in the elections was considered 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 almost 40 million voters.
Inauguration
It was on May 7 that the solemn ceremony of the transfer of power to the new head of state took place. As expected, Putin's inauguration was broadcast live by central TV channels.
The ceremony was held at the Grand Kremlin Palace. This was one of the innovations, since before that Boris Yeltsin had twice assumed 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 order of its holding have remained unchanged for many years. Putin's inauguration ceremony began with taking the oath in the presence of deputies, members of the Federation Council, judges of the Constitutional Court.
At the presidential inauguration, according to the script of the ceremony, Putin arrives from his office in the Grand Kremlin Palace. He ascends to the palace along the Red Porch, after having greeted the presidential regiment, which is lined up on Cathedral Square especially for this purpose.
The new head of state arrives in the Kremlin in a cortege through the Spassky Gates. With fanfare, he climbs the front stairs,rises to the podium, having previously passed through the Alexander and Georgievsky halls of the Kremlin.
When taking office as president, Putin put his hand on a special copy of the Constitution, pronouncing the text of the oath. Only after that the head of state is officially considered to have taken office. The President of the Constitutional Court solemnly announces this. Then the Russian anthem sounds, and a duplicate of the presidential standard rises above the residence of the head of state.
When taking office as President of the Russian Federation, Putin addresses the citizens of Russia with a short address, which is broadcast live. Then 30 ceremonial volleys from blank artillery shells are fired on the Kremlin Embankment.
Finally, the head of state leaves St. Andrew's Hall to Cathedral Square to receive the parade of the presidential regiment.
Second term
We continue to talk in detail about Putin's positions by year. After the end of his first term, Vladimir Vladimirovich decided to take part in the presidential elections in 2004 as well.
This time there were significantly fewer candidates participating in the voting - only six people. This time the last place belongs to Sergei Mironov, who failed to get even one percent of the vote. Slightly more than two percent received the candidate from the Liberal Democratic Party Oleg Malyshkin. Almost four percent were scored by the only woman among the candidates - Irina Khakamada.
The top three this time was closed by Sergey Glazyev, for himonly 4.1 percent of voters voted. The second place was taken by the candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Nikolai Kharitonov, but he also failed to score even 14%.
Putin scored an even more landslide victory with over 71%. This time almost 50 million people voted for him. It is noteworthy that the inauguration again took place on May 7, like four years ago. That's when Putin took office as president for the second time.
Putin's first two terms 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 abolition of the election of heads of regions in order to strengthen the vertical of power. By that time in parliament, he had already managed to enlist the stable support of the United Russia party, which had won the parliamentary elections a year earlier. Yeltsin did not have such conditions, since the parliament under the first president of Russia was always oppositional, it was ruled by the communists. Each decision and bill actually had to be pushed through the deputies. Now the communists have finally faded into the background.
Experts began to note the president's personnel preferences. He appointed his old acquaintances from Leningrad to key posts, those with whom he studied at the university together, worked in the mayor's office in the team of Anatoly Sobchak.
A large-scale reform was carried out, the situation of the media has changed radically. Free and independent publications in the country has become significantlysmaller. The case of NTV became resonant in this planet. It is believed that this was the beginning of the nationalization of the media in the country, when the company was taken from private hands, in fact, transferred to the state structure.
Various youth organizations were actively founded in support of Putin at that time. These were Walking Together, the NASHI movement, the Young Guard of United Russia. Of these, only the last one is still active. Walking Together ceased to exist in 2007, and NASHI 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 the salaries of state employees were not paid. Now, there was growth in all sectors, which, first of all, was associated with high oil prices, which remained at maximum levels almost throughout the 00s.
Prime again
Despite rumors that Putin is going to remake the Constitution for himself in order to run for a third term, this did not happen. In 2008, he announced his successor, Dmitry Medvedev. According to the already established tradition, the successor confidently won in the first round. Under Medvedev, Putin took over as prime minister. If you trace Putin's positions over the years, he was prime minister from 2008 to 2012. He was approved for this post the very next day after the inauguration of the new head of state.
During the period of this position, Putin felllarge-scale global financial and economic crisis of 2008-2010. At that time, Russia began to reorient itself from Western partners to even closer relations with Belarus, Kazakhstan, which resulted in the creation of the Customs Union.
Return to the presidency
In September 2011, at the congress of the United Russia party, Putin accepted the proposal to run again for the presidency. In a response speech, he expressed the hope that the post of prime minister in his team would return to Dmitry Medvedev.
It is noteworthy that at that time there were active talks that Medvedev could run for a second term. In particular, it is alleged that his team, which was with him all these four years, counted on this especially strongly. But that didn't happen.
Five candidates took part in the March 4, 2012 elections. By tradition, the last place was taken by the leader of the party "Fair Russia" Sergei Mironov. This time he managed to score well over one percent of the vote - 3.85%. Fourth place went to the candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Vladimir Zhirinovsky (6.2%).
Third place, unexpectedly for many, was taken by a self-nominated oligarch, well-known in the country, Mikhail Prokhorov, who received support from almost eight percent of voters. Gennady Zyuganov was second again, his rating was 17.2%.
Vladimir Putin won this election, although his result was lower than in 2004. For him63.6% voted, over 45.5 million people.
Traditionally, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin entered his new "old" position on May 7th. This time, the inauguration was not so standard, since on the same day the head of state signed a whole series of policy decrees that were aimed at significantly improving life in the country. They went down in history as the May Decrees. The date when Putin took office is remembered even better because of this.
Putin's term was the biggest sporting event the country has hosted in decades. In 2014, Sochi hosted the Winter Olympic Games.
Literally a month later, he made another fateful decision, the consequences of which are still being felt. In Ukraine at that time there was a protracted political crisis. In March 2014, the head of state received permission from the Federation Council for the use of Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine. The very next day, he addressed 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 controversy around the world. The Western community and the United States subjected him to unequivocal criticism, after which sanctions were imposed against Russia and domestic companies, the consequences of which are still being felt, since they have not yet been lifted.
Fourth term
Position of Vladimir Putin and currently the President of the Russian Federation. The decision to run for a second, and in fact for a fourth term, he announced in December 2017 in Nizhny Novgorod at a meeting with employees of the Gorky Automobile Plant.
The next presidential elections in the Russian Federation took place on March 18, 2018. There were eight candidates for them. This time, three failed to enlist the support of even one percent of voters - these are Sergei Baburin, Maxim Suraikin and Boris Titov.
Fifth place went to veteran campaigner Grigory Yavlinsky, who received just over one percent of the vote. The most unexpected candidate of this campaign, Ksenia Sobchak, earned 1.68%. The top three was closed by Vladimir Zhirinovsky with 5.65%, and the second place was taken by non-partisan candidate Pavel Grudinin, nominated by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. He failed to get even 12 percent of the votes.
Putin's victory in these elections 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.
May 7 was the inauguration. That's when Putin took office for the fourth time in his career. A week after that, an important symbolic event took place: the opening of automobile traffic along the Crimean bridge, since due to tense relations with Ukraine, it was extremely problematic to get into this, now Russian, region.
Now you knowwhen Putin took office in 2018, as well as when he did it in previous times. It is noteworthy that at the end of 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.
During the 00s, Putin is the most popular politician in the country. According to sociological polls conducted throughout the Russian Federation, his rating since 1999, when he was the acting president of Russia, has grown from 14 percent to the current figures, which can be judged from the last presidential election. It is believed that he was at the peak of his popularity in 2015, on the wave of people's 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. At that time, almost everyone knew for sure what position Putin held.
The sharp increase in his rating was noted by all sociologists without exception in the spring of 2014. Even then, the 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 were held in Sochi, for the first time on the territory of Russia in its entire modern history. The data that in February 2015 Putin's approval rating reached 86 percent was provided by an independent sociological agency. Levada Center.
It is noteworthy that in 2015 the level of support for the head of state continued to grow, especially after the successful military operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria. According to VTsIOM, by October 2015, the nationwide approval rating had almost reached the ninety percent mark.
In 2018, the presidential rating has noticeably f altered. If state sociologists reported about its decrease to 63 and a half percent, then independent ones even wrote about 48 points. There is a quite plausible explanation for such a sharp drop - this is the decision taken a few months earlier to raise the retirement age in the country. It was decided to do this from 2019.
As many experts note, Putin himself has repeatedly stated that the country has no need or even plans to raise the retirement age, at least during his first two terms. Even during relatively recent performances in 2013 and 2015. This topic was not touched upon in the message to the federal assembly, which was held in March 2018. Moreover, the government publication RIA Novosti stated at the same time that the retirement age would not be raised until at least 2030.
The first statement in the opposite direction 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 andtrade unions. At the end of August, the president made a televised address in which he explained the inevitability of the reform, while proposing mitigating amendments. However, even after that, the population considered them insufficient, and the attitude towards the reform did not change radically. On October 3, the decree was signed by the President.
