Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Russian: ???????? ???????????? ?????, {{Audio|ru-Putin.ogg|pronunciation}}, Pútin; born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and the current President of the Russian Federation. He succeeded Boris Yeltsin on December 31, 1999.

Second term as President

On March 14, 2004, Putin won re-election to the presidency for a second term, earning 71 percent of the vote. Again, there was massive and one-sided campaigning for Putin by Russian television channels, most of which are state owned and controlled. Nevertheless, the election campaign and the actual balloting were both declared "free and fair" by an international observation mission run by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. Although Russian Presidents are not limited in the number of terms they can serve, they cannot serve for more than two successive terms. So Putin is not permitted under the Constitution of Russian Federation to run for a third successive term in 2008 (following the 2003 parliamentary elections he gained a sufficient majority to change the Constitution, but so far has not announced any intention to do so.)

Related Topics:
March 14 - Putin won re-election - Constitution of Russian Federation - 2003

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On September 13, 2004, following the Beslan school hostage crisis, and nearly-concurrent terrorist attacks in Moscow, Putin launched an initiative to replace the election of regional governors with a system whereby they would be proposed by the President and approved or disapproved by regional legislatures. Opponents of this measure, including Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and Colin Powell, criticised it as a step away from democracy in Russia and a return to the centrally run political apparatus of the Soviet era. Also on that day, Putin publicly backed a plan by the Central Elections Commission for the new proportional, and not mixed system, as before. In the previous system half of the 450 deputies in the Duma were elected based on proportional representation, while the other half of deputies are elected individually in single-member districts. This measure is also seen as an attempt by the President at consolidating power.

Related Topics:
September 13 - Beslan school hostage crisis - Terrorist - Legislatures - Mikhail Gorbachev - Boris Yeltsin - Colin Powell

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On April 25, 2005, Putin caused some controversy when, in a nationally televised speech before the Duma, he referred to the collapse of the Soviet Union as "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century." This remark was poorly received in the West and in some neighboring states; Putin subsequently repeated earlier protestations that he was not praising the former Soviet Union but rather highlighting in an altogether objective fashion the dramatic impact the collapse of the USSR had had on the world.

Related Topics:
April 25 - 2005 - Collapse of the Soviet Union

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