Vladimir Putin 2
In 2005, Dell XPS M1210 battery
Dell XPS M1330 battery Putin initiated an industry consolidation programme to bring the main aircraft producing companies under a single umbrella organization, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC). The aim was optimize production lines and minimise losses. The programme was divided in three parts: reorganization and crisis management (2007–2010), Dell Latitude E4200 battery
Dell Latitude E5400 battery
evolution of existing projects (2010–2015) and further progress within the newly created structure (2015–2025).[144]
The UAC, one of the so-called national champions and comparable to EADS in Europe, enjoyed considerable financial support from the Russian government, and injected money to the companies it had acquired to improve their financial standing. The deliveries of civilian aircraft increased to 6 in 2005, Dell Latitude E5410 battery
Dell Latitude E5420 batteryand in 2009 the industry delivered 15 civilian aircraft, worth 12.5 billion roubles, mostly to domestic customers.[145] Since then Russia has successfully tested the fifth generation jet fighter, Sukhoi PAK FA, Dell Latitude E5510 battery
Dell Latitude E5500 battery
Dell Latitude E5220 battery and started the commercial production of the regional airliner Sukhoi Superjet 100, as well as started developing a number of other major projects. Dell Latitude E6400 battery
In a similar fashion, Putin created the United Shipbuilding Corporation in 2007, which led to the recovery[citation needed] of shipbuilding in Russia. Since 2006, much efforts were put into consolidation and development of the Rosatom Nuclear Energy State Corporation, Dell Latitude E6400 ATG battery
which led to the renewed construction of nuclear power plants in Russia as well as a vast activity of Rosatom abroad, buying huge shares in world's leading uranium production companies and building nuclear power plants in many countries, Dell Latitude E6500 battery
Dell Latitude E4300 battery
Dell Latitude E6430 battery including Iran, China, Vietnam and Belarus.[citation needed] In 2007, the Russian Nanotechnology Corporation was established, aimed to boost the science and technology and high-tech industry in Russia.[146] Dell Latitude E4310 battery
Dell Latitude E4320 battery
Energy policy
Main article: Energy policy of Russia
See also: Energy in Russia, Oil industry of Russia, and Nuclear power in Russia
Under Putin, Russia strengthened its position as a key oil and gas supplier to much of Europe.
In the 2000s (decade) Russia's oil and gas wealth was transformed into the country's well-being and international influence, and Russia was frequently been described in the media as an energy superpower.[23] Dell Latitude E6400 XFR battery
Dell Latitude E6320 batteryPutin oversaw that the growing taxation of oil and gas exports filled in the Russian budget, while oil and gas prices, production, and exports all significantly grew.
Putin sought to Russia's large share on the European energy market by building the submerged gas pipelines bypassing Ukraine and the New Europe (the countries which were often seen as non-reliable transit partners by Russia, especially following Russia-Ukraine gas disputes of the late 2000s (decade)). Dell Latitude E6410 battery
Dell Latitude E6230 battery The pipeline projects backed by Putin include the Blue Stream from Russia to Turkey (build on the Black Sea bed), Nord Stream from Russia to Germany (the longest sub-sea pipeline in the world, built through the Baltic Sea) and the planned South Stream from Russia to the Balkans and Italy (via the Black Sea). Dell Latitude E6410 ATG battery
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Dell Latitude E6220 battery Russia also undermined the rival pipeline project Nabucco by buying the Turkmen gas and redirecting it into Russian pipelines.
On the other hand Russia diversified its export markets by building the Trans-Siberian oil pipeline to the markets of China, Japan and Korea, as well as the Sakhalin–Khabarovsk–Vladivostok gas pipeline in the Russian Far East. Dell Latitude E6510 battery
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Dell Latitude E6210 battery Russia has built LNG plant on Sakhalin and is building another one in Primorye, aiming to increase the overseas gas exports. Meanwhile, in the Gulf of Finland Russia has built a major Ust-Luga port connected to the Baltic Pipeline System-II, which allowed to export oil without transit through the ports of the Baltic states. Sony PCG-41311M battery
The share of processed oil slowly grows with major oil refineries being built in Tatarstan and other regions of Russia.
Putin also presided over resuming the construction of major hydropower plants, such as the Bureya Dam and the Boguchany Dam, as well as the restoration of the nuclear industry of Russia, with some 1 trillion rubles ($42.7 billion) Sony PCG-41314M battery
Sony VPCZ12Z9E/X batteryallocated from the federal budget to nuclear power and industry development before 2015.[147] A large number of nuclear power stations and units are currently being constructed by the state corporation Rosatom in Russia and abroad. Sony PCG-4R2M battery
Arctic policy
Main article: Arctic policy of Russia
Putin aboard the battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy during the Northern Fleet manoeuvres in the Barents Sea, 2005.
Putin has sought to increase Russian military and economic presence in the Arctic. In August 2007, a Russian expedition named Arktika 2007, led by Artur Chilingarov, planted a Russian flag on the seabed below the North Pole to underline Russia's 2001 claim submission.[148] Sony PCG-4R2M battery
Sony VPCZ12X9E/B battery [148] In June 2008 General Vladimir Shamanov announced that Russia would increase the operational radius of its Northern Fleet submarines.[149] and in July 2011, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov announced plans for two brigades to be stationed in the Arctic.[150] Sony PCG-4U2M battery
A construction program of floating nuclear power plants will provide power to Russian Arctic coastal cities and gas rigs. A 21,500-ton barge with twin 35-megawatt reactors, the Akademik Lomonosov, will go into operation in 2012.[151][15Sony PCG-6Z4M battery
Sony VPCZ12V9E battery2] The Prirazlomnoye field, an offshore oilfield in the Pechora Sea that will include up to 40 wells, is currently under construction and drilling is expected to start in early 2012. It will have the world's first ice-resistant oil platform and will also be the first offshore Arctic platform.[153][154] Sony PCG-6112M battery
In August 2011 Rosneft, a Russian government-operated oil company, signed a deal with ExxonMobil to receive oil assets in exchange for the joint development of Russian Arctic resources by both companies.[15Sony PCG-6121M battery
5] The agreement includes a $3.2 billion hydrocarbon exploration of the Kara and Black seas,[156] as well as joint development of ice-resistant drilling platforms and other Arctic technologies.[157] "The scale of the investment is very large. It’s scary to utter such huge figures" said Putin on signing the deal.[155]
Environmental policy
Main articles: Environment of Russia and Environmental issues in Russia
Putin uses a tranquilizer gun to sedate an Amur Tiger in the Ussuri Nature Reserve in Primorsky Krai, 2008. Sony PCG-6122M battery
In 2004, President Putin signed the Kyoto Protocol treaty designed to reduce greenhouse gases.[158] However Russia did not face mandatory cuts, because the Kyoto Protocol limits emissions to a percentage increase or decrease from 1990 levels and Russia's greenhouse-gas emissions fell well below the 1990 baseline due to a drop in economic output after the breakup of the Soviet Union.[159] Sony PCG-6123M battery
Putin personally supervises and/or promotes a number of protection programmes for rare and endangered animals in Russia:
The Amur Tiger Programme[160]
The White Whale Programme[161]
The Polar Bear Programme[162]
The Snow Leopard Programme[163]
Religious and national policy
Main article: Religion in Russia
Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism, defined by law as Russia's traditional religions and a part of Russia's "historical heritage"[16Sony VPCZ13 battery
Sony VPCZ11Z9E battery4] enjoyed limited state support in the Putin era. The vast construction and restoration of churches, started in 1990s, continued under Putin, and the state allowed the teaching of religion in schools (parents are provided with a choice for their children to learn the basics of one of the traditional religions or secular ethics). Sony VPCZ13V9E battery
Sony VPCZ11X9E/B battery His approach to religious policy has been characterised as one of support for religious freedoms, but also the attempt to unify different religions under the authority of the state.[165] In 2012, Putin was honored in Bethlehem and a street was named after him.[166]
Putin meeting with religious leaders of Russia in 2001
Putin regularly attends the most important services of the Russian Orthodox Church on the main Orthodox Christian holidays. He established a good relationship with Patriarchs of the Russian Church, the late Alexy II of Moscow and the current Kirill of Moscow.
Sony VGP-BPS20/S battery As President, he 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.[167] Sony VGP-BPL20 battery
Putin and United Russia enjoy high electoral support in the national republics of Russia, in particular in the Muslim-majority republics of Povolzhye and the North Caucasus. Sony PCG-31111M battery
Under Putin, the Hasidic FJCR became increasingly influential within the Jewish community, partly due to the influence of Federation-supporting businessmen mediated through their alliances with Putin, notably Lev Leviev and Roman Abramovich.[168][1
Sony PCG-31113M battery68][169] According to the JTA, Putin is popular amongst the Russian Jewish community, who see him as a force for stability. Russia's chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, said Putin "paid great attention to the needs of our community and related to us with a deep respect."[170] Sony PCG-31112M battery
Sports development
Main article: Sport in Russia
Vladimir Putin addressing the International Olympic Committee in Guatemala City in 2007, on behalf of the successful bid of Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
On 4 July 2007 Putin addressed the delegates at the 119th International Olympic Committee Session in Guatemala City on behalf of the successful bid of Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2014 Winter Paralympics,[1Sony PCG-41212M battery
Sony PCG-41218M battery71] the first Winter Olympic Games in Russia. In 2008, the city of Kazan won the bid for the 2013 Summer Universiade, and on 2 December 2010 Russia won the right to host the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and 2018 FIFA World Cup, also for the first time in Russia.
Other major tournaments which the country has been chosen to host include the 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow and the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan (both events never held in Russia so far), Sony PCG-41215M battery
Sony PCG-41216M batterythe Russian Grand Prix (a new race of the Formula One since 2014, to be held in Sochi) and the 2016 IIHF World Championship.
Military development
Main article: Russian military reform
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. Sony PCG-41311M battery
[172] The sortie was to be backed up by 47 aircraft, including strategic bombers.[173]
Putin in the cockpit of a Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber before the flight, August 2005.
While from the early 2000s (decade) Russia started pumping more money into its military and defence industry, Sony PCG-41313M battery
Sony VPCZ12Z9E/X batteryit was only in 2008 that the full-scale Russian military reform began, aimed to modernize Russian Armed Forces and made them significantly more effective. The reform was largely carried by Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov during Medvedev's Presidency, under supervision of both Putin, Sony PCG-41212M battery
Sony PCG-31114M battery as the Head of Government, and Medvedev, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces.
Key elements of the reform included reducing the armed forces to a strength of one million; reducing the number of officers; centralising officer training from 65 military schools into 10 'systemic' military training centres; creating a professional NCO corps; Sony PCG-41315M battery
reducing the size of the central command; introducing more civilian logistics and auxiliary staff; elimination of cadre-strength formations; reorganising the reserves; reorganising the army into a brigade system; reorganising air forces into an air base system instead of regiments.[174]
The number of Russia's military districts was reduced to just 4. The term of draft service was reduced from two years to one, which put an end to the old harassment traditions in the army, since all conscripts became very close by draft age. Sony PCG-41215M battery
Sony PCG-31113M batteryThe gradual transition to the majority professional army by the late 2010s was announced, and a large programme of supplying the Armed Forces with new military equipment and ships was started. The Russian Space Forces were replaced on 1 December 2011 with the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces.
In spite of Putin's call for major investments in strategic nuclear weapons, these will fall well below the New START limits due to the retirement of aging systems.[175]
Foreign policy
Main articles: Foreign policy of Russia, Foreign policy of Vladimir Putin, and List of presidential trips made by Vladimir Putin
Relations with NATO and the West
U.S. President George W. Bush and Putin at the 33rd G8 summit, June 2007.
Main articles: NATO–Russia relations and Russia–United States relations
Putin's Russia relationships with NATO and the U.S. have passed several stages. When Putin first became President, the relations were cautious. After the 9/11 attacks when Putin quickly supported U.S. in the War on Terror, the opportunity for partnership appeared.[17Sony PCG-41216M battery
6] However, the U.S. responded by further expansion of NATO to Russia's borders and by unilateral withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.[17Sony PCG-4R2M battery
Sony VPCZ12Z9E/B battery6] Since 2003, when Russia did not support the Iraq War and when Putin became ever more distant from the West in his internal and external policies, the relations continued to deteriorate. Sony PCG-6Z4M battery
Sony VPCZ12X9E/B batteryAccording to Russia scholar Stephen F. Cohen, the narrative of the mainstream U.S. media, following that of the White House, became profoundly anti-Putin, Sony PCG-41217M battery
full of accusations that Putin had caused problems which actually stem from the 1990s, and assertions that Putin was personally responsible for any murders of his Russian political opponents, such as the journalist Anna Politkovskaya and the supposed KGB defector in London, Aleksandr Litvinenko.[1Sony PCG-6121M battery
Sony VPCZ12V9E/B battery76] In an interview with Michael Stürmer, Putin was quoted saying that there were three questions which most concerned Russia and Eastern Europe; namely the status of Kosovo, the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty and American plans to build missile defence sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, and suggested that all three were some way linked.[17Sony PCG-6122M battery
Sony VPCZ12M9E battery7] In Putin's view, concessions on one of these questions on the Western side might be met with concessions from Russia on another.[177Sony PCG-41218M battery
Putin with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, in 2008.
In February 2007, at the annual Munich Conference on Security Policy, Putin openly criticized what he called the United States' monopolistic dominance in global relations, and "almost uncontained hyper use of force in international relations". Sony PCG-6123M battery
Sony VPCZ12C7E/B batteryHe 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."[17Sony PCG-31111M battery]8] In this speech, which became known as Munich Speech, Putin called for a "fair and democratic world order that would ensure security and prosperity not only for a select few, but for all".[178] His remarks however were met with criticism by some delegates[179] such as former NATO secretary Jaap de Hoop Scheffer who called his speech, "disappointing and not helpful."[180] Previously, in a January 2007 interview Putin said Russia is in favor of a democratic multipolar world and of strengthening the systems of international law.[181] The months following Putin's Munich speech[17Sony PCG-6124M battery
Sony VPCZ11Z9E/B battery8] were marked by tension and a surge in rhetoric on both sides of the Atlantic. Both Russian and American officials, however, denied the idea of a new Cold War.[182]
Putin publicly opposed plans for the U.S. missile shield in Europe, Sony VPCZ13 battery
Sony VPCZ11Z9E batteryand 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[Sony VPCZ13M9E/B battery
177] 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.[1Sony VPCZ13Z9E/X battery
Sony VPCZ11X9E/B battery83] The proposal was declined. Russia suspended its participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe on 11 December 2007.[184]
Vladimir Putin strongly opposes the secession of Kosovo from Serbia. He called any support for this act "immoral" and "illegal".[18Sony VPCZ23K9E battery
Sony VPCZ11X9E battery5] He described Kosovo's declaration of independence a "terrible precedent" that will come back to hit the West "in the face".[186] He stated that the Kosovo precedent will de facto destroy the whole system of international relations, developed over centuries.[187]
Putin's relations 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. Sony VGP-BPS20/B battery
Sony VGP-BPS20/S batteryPutin's "cooler" and "more business-like" relationship with Germany's new Chancellor, Angela Merkel is often attributed to Merkel's upbringing in the former DDR, where Putin was stationed when he was a KGB agent.[188] Sony VGP-BPL14 battery
Relations with the U.K.
Main article: Russia–United Kingdom relations
Putin, Koni and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2005
By mid-2000s (decade), the relations between Russia and the United Kingdom deteriorated when the United Kingdom granted political asylum to Putin's former patron, oligarch Boris Berezovsky in 2003.[189] Berezovsky, located in London, Sony VGP-BPL14/S battery
often called for the overthrow of Putin[189] and allegedly directed anti-Putin activities in Russia. The United Kingdom also granted asylum to the Chechen rebel leader Akhmed Zakayev and other people who fled from Russia. Sony VGP-BPS14/S battery
In 2006 it became known that Britain spied on Russia using a fake rock, which was located on a street and contained electronic equipment that allowed British diplomats to receive and transmit information.[19Sony VGN-Z11WN/B battery
Sony VGN-Z51WG/B battery0] The Russian security service FSB linked the rock with allegations that British were making secret payments to pro-democracy and human rights groups, and the same year President Putin introduced a law which restricted non-governmental organisations (NGOs) Sony VGN-Z11XN/X battery
Sony VGN-Z51MG/B batteryfrom getting funding from foreign governments. This resulted in many NGOs closing.[190] In 2006, the Russian liberal opposition met the media reports on "spy rock" with contempt, alleging that it was made-up by FSB,[191Sony VGN-Z21 battery
Sony VGN-Z51XTG/B battery] but in 2012 Jonathan Powell, ex-chief of staff of the U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, confessed that the story with the rock was true.[190]
The end of 2006 brought very strained relations in the wake of the death by polonium poisoning[192][1Sony VGN-Z21WN/B battery
Sony VGN-Z31XN/B battery93] of Alexander Litvinenko in London. Litvinenko's friends Andrei Nekrasov and Alex Goldfarb claimed that Litvinenko had made a statement, in which Putin was accused of directing the assassination.[194][1Sony VGN-Z21XN battery
Sony VGN-Z41WD/B battery95][196] Critics have doubted that Litvinenko is the true author of the released statement.[197][198][199] 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.[200Sony VGN-Z31 battery
Sony VGP-BPS12 battery] In 2012, when Litvinenko's widow admitted that her husband had worked for British intelligence services, Litvinenko's father said that the Russian secret services had a right to kill traitors,[192] and regretted "his participation in the smear campaign against Russia in general and [current] Prime Minister Putin in particular".[192] Sony VGN-Z31VN/X battery
In 2007, the crisis in relations involved expelling four Russian envoys over Russia's refusal to extradite a former KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoi to face charges on the alleged murder of Litvinenko,[189]
Sony VGN-Z battery since the Russian constitution prohibits the extradition of Russian nationals to third countries. Mirroring the British actions, Russia expelled UK diplomats and 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.[1Sony VGN-Z31WN/B battery
Sony VGN-Z51XG battery89] Lugovoi subsequently became an MP in the Russian Duma, giving him immunity from prosecution within Russia. On 10 December 2007, the British Ambassador in Moscow, Tony Brenton, reacted by saying: "It is a pity that a man wanted for murder gains political recognition.
Sony VGN-Z51WG battery It does Russia no good at all to have Lugovoy there in the parliament. It continues the suspicion."[201] The same day, Russia ordered the British Council to halt work at its regional offices in the country.[202] Sony VGN-Z31ZN/B battery
Relations with India
Main article: India–Russia relations
India's Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee with Russia's president Vladimir Putin in November 2001.
During his first and second term in office, bilateral trade turnover between India and Russia was modest and stood at US$ 3 billion, of which Indian exports to Russia were valued at US$ 908 million. The major Indian exports to Russia are pharmaceuticals; tea, coffee and spices; apparel and clothing; edible preparations; Sony PCG-4121DL Battery
and engineering goods. Main Indian imports from Russia are iron and steel; fertilisers; non-ferrous metals; paper products; coal, coke & briquettes; cereals; and rubber. Indo-Russian trade is expected to reach US$10 billion by 2010. Putin wrote in an article in the Hindu, Sony PCG-4121EL Battery
sony PCG-6Z3L battery"The Declaration on Strategic Partnership between India and Russia signed in October 2000 became a truly historic step".[203][204] Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also agreed with his counterpart by stated in speech given during President Putin's 2012 visit to India, Sony PCG-4121FL Battery
sony PCG-6Z2L battery"President Putin is a valued friend of India and the original architect of the India-Russia strategic partnership".[205Sony PCG-4121GL Battery
sony PCG-6Z1L battery] Both countries closely collaborate on matters of shared national interest these include at the UN, BRICS, G20 and SCO where India has observer status and has been asked by Russia to become a full member.[206Sony PCG-41211L Battery
sony PCG-6XBL battery] Russia also strongly supports India receiving a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. In addition, Russia has vocally backed India joining the NSG[207] and APEC.[208] Moreover, it has also expressed interest in joining SAARC with observer status in which India is a founding member.[209][210] Sony PCG-41212L Battery
Russia currently is one of only two countries in the world (the other being Japan) that has a mechanism for annual ministerial-level defence reviews with India.[211] The Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission (IRIGC), Sony PCG-41215L Battery
sony PCG-6X8L battery which is one of the largest and comprehensive governmental mechanisms that India has had with any country internationally. Almost every department from the Government of India attends it.[211] Sony PCG-41217L Battery
Relations with China and SCO
Main articles: People's Republic of China-Russia relations and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
Vladimir Putin and Hu Jintao at the 2003 APEC Summit in Thailand
Putin's Russia maintains strong and positive relations with other BRIC countries. The country has sought to strengthen ties especially with the People's Republic of China by signing the Treaty of Friendship as well as building the Trans-Siberian oil pipeline geared toward growing Chinese energy needs.[21Sony PCG-41218L Battery
sony PCG-6X6L battery2] The mutual-security cooperation of the two countries and their central Asian neighbours is facilitated by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Sony PCG-41411L Battery
The announcement made during the SCO summit that Russia resumes on a permanent basis the long-distance patrol flights of its strategic bombers (suspended in 1992)[213][214] in the light of joint Russian-Chinese military exercises, first-ever in history held on Russian territory,[215] made some experts believe that Putin is inclined to set up an anti-NATO bloc or the Asian version of OPEC.[21Sony PCG-41413L Battery
sony PCG-6X2L battery6] 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".[213]
Relations with Iran Sony PCG-41414L Battery
Main article: Iran-Russia relations
Putin with Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 2007
On 16 October 2007 Putin visited Iran to participate in the Second Caspian Summit in Tehran,[217][218] sony PCG-4R1L battery
sony PCG-4Q1L batterywhere he met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.[219] Other participants were leaders of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan.[220] This is the first visit of a Soviet or Russian leader to Iran since Joseph Stalin's participation in the Tehran Conference in 1943.[2sony PCG-4Q4L battery
sony PCG-4Q3L battery21] 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".[222] Sony PCG-61A11L Battery
Subsequently, under Medvedev's presidency, Iran-Russia relations were uneven: Russia did not fulfill the contract of selling to Iran the S-300, one of the most potent anti-aircraft missile systems currently existing. However, Sony PCG-61A13L Battery
Sony PCG-91211L Battery Russian specialists completed the construction of Iran and the Middle East's first civilian nuclear power facility, the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, and Russia has continuously opposed the imposition of economic sanctions on Iran by the U.S. and the EU, as well as warning against a military attack on Iran. Sony PCG-61A14L Battery
Sony PCG-71914L Battery Putin was quoted as describing Iran as a "partner",[177] though he expressed concerns over the Iranian nuclear programme.[177]
Relations with Australasia, Latin America and others
Main articles: Australia–Russia relations, Russia–Venezuela relations, Cuba–Russia relations, and Brazil–Russia relations
Putin with Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Putin with Fidel Castro in 2000, re-establishing close ties between Russia and Cuba.
Putin and his successor Medvedev have enjoyed warm relations with Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. Much of this has been through the sale of military equipment; since 2005, Venezuela has purchased more than $4 billion worth of arms from Russia.[22Sony PCG-71C12L Battery
Sony PCG-71913L Battery3] In September 2008, Russia sent Tupolev Tu-160 bombers to Venezuela to carry out training flights.[224] In November 2008, both countries held a joint naval exercise in the Caribbean.[225] Earlier in 2000, Putin had re-established stronger ties with Fidel Castro's Cuba.
In September 2007, Putin visited Indonesia and in doing so became the first Russian leader to visit the country in more than 50 years.[226] Sony PCG-61714L Battery
Sony PCG-71911L Battery 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. Sony PCG-61813L Battery
Libya
Putin meeting with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2008.
In April 2008, Putin visited Libya where he met the leader Muammar Gaddafi, the country welcomed the idea of creating an OPEC-like group of gas-exporting countries, Putin became first Russian President who visited Libya, Sony PCG-61913L Battery
Sony PCG-71811L Batteryhe remarked the visit as "We are satisfied about the way in which we resolved this problem. I am absolutely convinced that the solution we have found will help the Russian and Libyan economies."[22Sony PCG-71614L Battery
Sony PCG-71713L Battery7] Putin condemned the foreign military intervention of Libya, he called UN resolution as "defective and flawed," and added "It allows everything. It resembles medieval calls for crusades.",[22Sony PCG-91111L Battery
8] During the whole event, Putin condemned other steps taken by NATO.[229] Upon the death of Muammar Gaddafi, Putin called it as "planned murder" by US, he asked "They showed to the whole world how he (Gaddafi) was killed," and "There was blood all over. Is that what they call a democracy?"[230][231]
Syria
Dmitri Trenin reports in the New York Times that from 2000 to 2010 Russia sold around $1.5 billion worth of arms to Syria, making Damascus Moscow’s seventh-largest client.[232] During the 2011-3 Syrian civil war, Russia threatened to veto any sanctions against the Syrian government,[233] and continued to supply arms to the regime. Sony PCG-6X4M battery
Putin opposed any foreign intervention. On 1 June 1, 2012, in Paris, he rejected the statement of French President Francois Hollande who called on Bashar Al-Assad to step down. Putin echoed the argument of the Assad regime that anti-regime Sony PCG-91112L Battery
Sony PCG-61316L Battery’’militants’’ were responsible for much of the bloodshed, rather than the shelling by Syrian forces and the civilian killings attributed by survivors and Western governments toregime supporters. He asked "But how many of peaceful people (sic) were killed by so-called militants? Did you count? Sony PCG-71312L Battery
Sony PCG-61315L BatteryThere are also hundreds of victims." He also talked about previous NATO interventions and their results, and asked "What is happening in Libya, in Iraq? Did they become safer? Where are they heading? Nobody has an answer."[234] Sony PCG-71218L Battery
Relations with post-Soviet states
Main articles: Color revolutions, Russia–Ukraine gas disputes, Russia–Ukraine relations, Belarus–Russia relations, Georgia–Russia relations, and Kyrgyzstan–Russia relations
A series of the so-called color revolutions in the post-Soviet states, namely the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003, Sony PCG-71217L Battery
Sony PCG-61311L Battery the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004 and the Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan in 2005, led to frictions in the relations of those countries with Russia. In December 2004, Putin criticised the Rose and Orange Revolution, Sony PCG-71313L Battery
Sony PCG-61215L Batteryaccording to him: "If you have permanent revolutions you risk plunging the post-Soviet space into endless conflict".[235] During the protests following the 2011 Russian elections (in December 2011) Putin named the Orange Revolution an infamous foreknowledge for Russia.[236]
Apart from a clash of nationalist rhetorics[clarification needed] with the common historical legacies of the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire[citation needed], a number of economic disputes erupted between Russia and some neighbours, Sony PCG-71315L Battery
such as the Russian import ban of Georgian wine. And in some cases, such as the Russia–Ukraine gas disputes, the economic conflicts affected other European countries, for example when a January 2009 gas dispute with Ukraine led state-controlled Russian company Gazprom to halt its deliveries of natural gas to Ukraine,[23Sony PCG-71317L Battery
Sony PCG-71216L Battery7] which left a number of European states, to which Ukraine transits Russian gas, to have serious shortages of natural gas in January 2009.[23Sony PCG-6X2M battery,
7] In an interview with the German historian Michael Stürmer about the Russian shut-down of gas to Ukraine in early 2005, Putin linked the shut-down to the Orange revolution, saying: "This has a price [the Orange revolution]. Sony PCG-71211L Battery
In spite of so much frustration we have stablizied the situation. In old days we concluded agreements with Ukraine year after year, and then included transit fees. The West Europeans had no idea that their energy security was a cliffhanger. Sony PCG-71212L Battery
Sony PCG-71215L BatteryBy now we have a five-year agreement for transit to the E.U. This is an important step in the direction of European energy security".[177]
Meeting with Mikheil Saakashvili in 2008
The disputes typically arose because of inabilities of Ukraine to pay higher prices for natural gas and pay debts in time. In 2009, the Russia–Ukraine dispute was resolved by a long-term agreement on price formula, agreed by Prime Ministers Vladimir Putin of Russia and Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko[237][2Sony PCG-9Z1L Battery
38] (later, when the rising global oil prices prompted the rising gas prizes[239] the agreement turned very unfavourable for Ukraine; in October 2011 Tymoshenko was found guilty of abuse of office when brokering the 2009 deal and was sentenced to seven years in prison).[240] Sony PCG-9Z2L Battery
The plans of Georgia and Ukraine to become members of NATO have caused some tensions between Russia and those states. In 2010, Ukraine did abandon these plans.[24Sony PCG-7142L Battery
1] Putin allegedly declared at a NATO-Russia summit in 2008 that if Ukraine joined NATO Russia could contend to annex the Ukrainian East and Crimea.[242] In public Putin has stated that Russia has no intention of annexing any country.[235] Sony PCG-4R1M battery
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin in 2002. Despite a number of economic disputes in mid-2000s (decade), Belarus has remained one of Russia's closest allies.
In August 2008, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili attempted to restore control over the breakaway South Ossetia, Sony PCG-7151L Battery
Sony PCG-7185L Battery claiming this action was in response to Ossetian border attacks on Georgians and to alleged buildups of Russian non-peacekeeping forces. Russian peacekeepers stationed there came under attack during the invasion and fought alongside the South Ossetians as Georgian troops pushed into the province and seized most of the capital of Tskhinvali. Sony PCG-7152L Battery
Sony PCG-7184L Battery However, the Georgian military was soon defeated in the resulting 2008 South Ossetia War after regular Russian forces entered South Ossetia and then Georgia proper, and also opened a second front in the other Georgian breakaway province of Abkhazia together with Abkhazian forces.[243] Sony PCG-7153L Battery
Sony PCG-7183L Battery [244] During this conflict, according to high level French diplomat Jean-David Levitte, Putin intended to depose the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and declared: "I am going to hang Saakashvili by the balls".[245] Sony PCG-71C11M battery
Putin blamed the 2008 war and the bad relations between Russia and Georgia as "the result of the policy that the Georgian authorities conducted back then and still attempt to conduct now"; he stated that Georgia is a Sony PCG-7154L Battery
Sony PCG-7182L Battery"brotherly nation that hopefully will finally understand that Russia is not an enemy, but is a friend and the relations will be restored"[246] (one month before Georgian President Saakashvili had stated "Putin has a problem with Georgian people, but not with Georgian government").[Sony PCG-7162L Battery
Sony PCG-7181L Battery247] Putin stated in 2009 Georgia could have kept Abkhazia and South Ossetia "within its territory" if it had treated the residents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia "with respect" (he claims they did "the opposite").[248] Sony PCG-7171L Battery
The President of Ukraine elected during the Orange Revolution, Viktor Yushchenko, was succeeded in 2010 by Viktor Yanukovych, that led to improved relations with Russia.[249] Russia was able to expand the lease for the base for its Black Sea Fleet base in the Ukrainian city Sevastopol in exchange for lower gas prices for Ukraine Sony PCG-7172L Battery
Sony PCG-7173L Battery (the 2010 Ukrainian–Russian Naval Base for Natural Gas treaty).[250] The President of Kyrgyzstan since 2009, Almazbek Atambayev, wants to guide Kyrgyzstan towards the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia and has stated his country has a "common future" with its neighbours and Russia.[251] Sony PCG-71111L Battery
Eurasian policy
Main article: Eurasian Union
The proposed Eurasian Union with the most likely immediate members: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Despite existing or past tensions between Russia and most of the post-Soviet states, Putin has followed the policy of Eurasian integration. Sony PCG-81111L Battery
Sony PCG-81314L BatteryThe Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia has already brought partial economic unity between the three states, and the proposed Eurasian Union is said to be a continuation of this customs union. Sony PCG-81112L Battery
A number of other regional organizations also provide the basis for further integration: the Union State of Russia and Belarus, the Eurasian Economic Community of Russia, Sony PCG-71D14M battery
Belarus and Kazakhstan, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, consisting of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and the Commonwealth of Independent States comprising most of the post-Soviet countries. Sony PCG-81114L Battery
On 18 November 2011, the presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia signed an agreement, setting a target of establishing the Eurasian Union by 2015.[2Sony PCG-81214L Battery
Sony PCG-81312L Battery52] The agreement included the roadmap for the future integration and established the Eurasian Commission (modelled on the European Commission) and the Eurasian Economic Space, which started work on 1 January 2012.[252][253] Sony PCG-61611M battery
Programmes
Long-term strategies
Putin presents the "Strategy 2020" to the Extended Meeting of the State Council of Russia on 8 February 2008.
The 2007 election campaign of the United Russia party went under the slogan "Putin's Plan: Russia's Victory". When asked on the "Putin's Plan", Vladimir Putin said that his last five Addresses to the Federal Assembly contained some key parts "devoted to the state's medium-term development",Dell Latitude E4200 battery
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and "if all these key ideas were put together to build a coherent system, it can become the country's development plan in the medium-term."[254] Dell Latitude E5410 battery
Later the "Putin's Plan" was transformed into the Strategy 2020, which set the key goals and target figures for Russia's development until 2020. The "Strategy 2020" was first presented by Putin on the Extended Meeting of the State Council on 8 February 2008.[2Dell Latitude E5510 battery
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55] It is the second long-term development strategy adopted by the Russian Federation, following the Strategy 2010, which had been made the basis for Russian government programmes in June 2000 and was largely fulfilled by 2010.[256] Sony PCG-61813M battery
Programme articles
Putin has published articles in the Russian press on a number of occasions, in particularly before and during his 2012 presidential campaign. Soon after the announcement that he would run for another Presidency on 24 September 2011, in his article called "New Integration Project for Eurasia – A Future That Is Being Born Today"[2Dell Latitude E6400 battery
Dell Latitude E5220 battery57] (Новый интеграционный проект для Евразии – будущее, которое рождается сегодня[258]), published by Izvestiya on 3 October, he brought to attention the idea of the Eurasian Union, composed of Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and possibly other post-Soviet states[259][260] Dell Latitude E6400 ATG battery
(the concept was first proposed by the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, during a 1994 speech at a Moscow university).[261] This publication was soon followed by the presidents of Belarus, Dell Latitude E6500 battery
Dell Latitude E6430s batteryKazakhstan and Russia signing an agreement on 18 November 2011 which established the Eurasian Commission (modeled on the European Commission) from 1 January 2012 and set a target of establishing the Eurasian Union (modeled on the European Union) by 2015.[253] Dell Latitude E4300 battery
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Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Vladimir Putin/Articles
In the course of the 2012 presidential campaign, in order to present his election program, Putin published 7 articles in different Russian editions. In those articles, he presented his vision of the problems which Russia successfully solved in the last decade and the goals yet to be achieved. The topics of the articles were as follows: the general overview, the ethnicity issue, economic tasks, democracy and government efficiency, social policy, military, foreign policy.[262]
Speeches and catch phrases
Addresses to the Federal Assembly
During his terms in office Putin has made eight annual addresses to the Federal Assembly of Russia,[263] speaking on the situation in Russia and on guidelines of the internal and foreign policy of the State (as prescribed in Article 84 of the Constitution[264]). Dell Latitude E4320 battery
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Speeches abroad
Putin making his Munich speech in 2007.
One of the most important and widely publicized speeches of Putin made abroad was made on 10 February 2007 on the Munich Conference on Security Policy, and hence became known as the Munich speech.
Dell Latitude E6330 batteryIt was dubbed by the press to be "the turning point of the Russian foreign policy", and western observers called it the most tough speech from a leader of Russia since the time of the Cold War.[26Dell Latitude E6410 battery
5] The speech was also seen as been made by Putin to openly assert the new (old) role of Russia in the international politics, the role close to that of the Soviet Union and the return to which role is seen as one of the achievements of Putin's Presidency.[265] Dell Latitude E6410 ATG battery
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In the Munich speech Putin called to uphold the principle "security for everyone is security for all", criticized the policies of the United States and NATO, condemned the unipolar model of international relations as flawed and lacking moral basis, Dell Latitude E6510 battery
Dell Latitude E6320 battery condemned the hypocrisy of countries trying to teach democracy to Russia, condemned the domination of hard power and enforcement by the U.S. of the Western norms and laws to other countries bypassing the international law and substituting the United Nations by NATO or the EU.[ Sony PCG-71511M battery
265] Putin also called to stop the militarization of space and questioned the plans to deploy American missile defense in Europe as threatening strategic nuclear balance and spurring new arms race (that's when the countries dubbed as rogue states by the West are in fact lacking any rocket weapons capable to threaten Europe or the U.S. Dell Latitude E6120 battery
Dell Latitude E6230 battery and being unable to develop such weapons any time soon).[265] His speech was criticized by some attendant delegates at the conference, including former NATO secretary Jaap de Hoop Scheffer who called it "disappointing and not helpful."[180] Dell Latitude E6210 battery
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On 4 July 2007 Putin made a full fluent English speech while addressing delegates at the 119th International Olympic Committee Session in Guatemala City on behalf of the successful bid of Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics, the first Winter Olympic Games in Russia.[171] Sony VGN-TT1RLN/B battery
Outdoor speeches
Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev on 2 March 2008, the day of Russian presidential election. The soundtrack while they walk is Lubeh, Putin's favourite band.[266] Sony PCG-91112M battery
Notable Putin's outdoor speeches include his addresses during the Victory Day Moscow Military Parades one every 9 May in the years between 2000 and 2007. Under Putin's presidency and premiership, the old Soviet tradition of 9 May Parades, Sony VGN-TT1RVN/X battery
Sony VGN-TT46MG/W battery which had been in decline in 1990s, was gradually restored in full grandeur. Since the 2008 Moscow Victory Day Parade the armoured fighting vehicles resumed regular taking part in the Red Square parades. Sony VGN-TT11LN/B battery
Sony VGN-TT46GG/W battery Putin often used the Victory Day occasion to discuss Russia's military development and Russia's security and foreign affairs. For example, he said on 9 May 2007 that "threats are not becoming fewer but are only transforming and changing their appearance. Sony VGN-TT11M/N battery
Sony VGN-TT21WN/B batteryThese 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."[267] Sony PCG-91311M battery
During his 2012 presidential campaign Putin made a single outdoor public speech at the 100,000-strong rally of his supporters in the Luzhniki Stadium on 23 February, Russia's Defender of the Fatherland Day.[103Sony VGN-TT11RM/N battery
Sony VGN-TT21VN/X battery] In the speech he called not to betray the Motherland, but to love her, to unite around Russia and to work together for the good, to overcome the existing problems.[268] He said that the foreign interference into Russian affairs should not be allowed, that Russia has its own free will.
Sony VGN-TT21JN/B batteryHe compared the political situation at the moment (when fears were spread in the Russian society that 2011–2012 Russian protests could instigate a color revolution directed from abroad) with the First Fatherland War of 1812, Sony PCG-71315M battery
Sony PCG-61611M batteryreminding that its 200th anniversary and the anniversary of the Battle of Borodino would be celebrated in 2012.Putin cited Lermontov's poem Borodino and ended the speech with Vyacheslav Molotov's famous Great Patriotic War slogan "The Victory Shall Be Ours!" ("Победа будет за нами!").[103][268] Sony VGN-TT11RM/R battery
On the post-election celebration rally, while making an acceptance speech, Putin was for the first time ever seen with tears in his eyes (later he explained that "it was windy"). He said to a 110,000-strong audience: "I told you we would win and we won!"[102][269] Sony VGN-TT11VN/X battery
Putinisms
Alluding to Rudyard Kipling's python Kaa, Putin addresses the Russian non-systemic opposition, who, according to him, work for foreign interests: Come to me, Bandar-logs![270] Sony VGN-TT11WN/B battery
Putin has produced a large number of popular aphorisms and catch-phrases, known as putinisms.[271] Many of them were first made during his annual Q&A conferences, where Putin answered questions from journalists and other people in the studio, Sony PCG-71316M battery
Sony PCG-61511M battery as well as from Russians throughout the country, who either phoned in or spoke from studios and outdoor sites across Russia. Putin is known for his often tough and sharp language.[271] The examples of most popular putinisms include:[272] Dell Latitude E6120 Battery
Мочить в сортире – To bump off in a toilet. One of the earliest "putinisms", made in September 1999, when he promised to destroy terrorists wherever they were found, including in toilets.[272] In 2010, Putin also promised to pluck out the remaining terrorists from the bottom of a sewer (выковырять со дна канализации).[2Dell Latitude E6210 Battery
Она утонула – She sank. Putin's short answer to a question from Larry King in September 2000 asking what happened to the Russian submarine K-141 Kursk.[2 Dell Latitude E6220 Battery 73]
72] Many criticized Putin for the cynicism perceived in this answer. This curt reply also spawned a new kind of joke based on giving one short, self-evident answer (including a verb in past tense) to a "What has happened with..?" question.[citation needed] Sony PCG-71318M battery
Пахал, как раб на галерах – literally, Ploughed like a slave on a galley (the Russian verb пахать also has the general meaning of "to do hard work"). This is how Putin described his work as President of Russia from 2000 to 2008 during a Q&A conference in February 2008.[2Dell Latitude E6520 Battery 71] Not only did the phrase itself became popular, but a wrong reading of it—как раб ("like a slave") in Russian sounds almost identical to как краб ("like a crab")—led to the appearance of a popular Internet nickname for Putin, "Crabbe" (Russian: Крабе), while Dmitry Medvedev was (for some reason) similarly nicknamed Shmele (Russian: Шмеле, a non-existent vocative form of шмель, meaning "bumblebee").[27Dell Latitude E6520N Battery 4]
Putin during one of his annual Q&A conferences, indicating with his pen.
От мертвого осла уши – Ears of a dead ass. According to Putin, that was what Latvia would receive instead of the western Pytalovsky District of Russia claimed by Latvia in a territorial dispute stemming from the Soviet border redrawing.[27Dell Inspiron 13R Battery] On 27 March 2007 Russia and Latvia signed the treaty on state border, in which Latvia renounced its territorial claims.[275] Dell Inspiron 13z Battery1
Шакалить у иностранных посольств – Jackaling at foreign embassies. Putin's view of the Russian "non-systemic opposition": characterising them as having minimal support among the population, he says that they turn to asking for money and support from foreign governments.[276] Dell Inspiron 1410 Battery
Как минимум государственный деятель должен иметь голову. – At the very least, a state leader should have a head. Putin's response to Hillary Clinton's claim that Putin has no soul. He also recommended that international relations be built without emotion and instead on the basis of the fundamental interests of the states involved.[272] Dell Inspiron 1420 BatteryРучку верните – Return my pen. A phrase said by Putin to the industrial oligarch Oleg Deripaska, after Deripaska was forced by Putin to sign, using Putin's pen, an agreement aimed at resolving a socio-economic crisis in the monograd of Pikalyovo on 4 June 2009, Dell inspiron 1425 Battery
which had escalated after the different owners of the aluminum oxide plant and connected enterprises in the town did not pay their workers' salaries and were unable to negotiate the terms on which the local industrial complex would work. Putin came to the scene personally to conduct the negotiations.[277] Dell inspiron 1427 Battery
Shearing a pig- On 25 June 2013, Vladimir Putin revealed the surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden is indeed in a Moscow airport, ending a global guessing game over the US fugitive's whereabouts. Dell Inspiron 1440 Battery Putin lashed out at US accusations that the Russia was harbouring a fugitive, saying "I'd rather not deal with such questions, because anyway it's like shearing a pig – lots of screams but little wool". [278] Sony PCG-6Z2M battery,
Public image
Ratings and polls
Putin's approval (blue) and disapproval (red) ratings during his eight-year presidency.
According to public opinion surveys conducted by NGO Levada Center, Putin's approval rating was 81% in June 2007, and the highest of any leader in the world.[279] His popularity rose from 31% in August 1999 to 80% in November 1999, Dell Inspiron 1470 BatteryDell Inspiron 1470n Batterynever dropping below 65% during his first Presidency.[280] In January 2013, his approval rating fell to 62%, the lowest point since 2000 and a ten-point drop over two years.[281] 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.[2Dell Inspiron 14R Battery82][283][dead link] One analysis attributed Putin's popularity, in part, to state-owned or state-controlled television.[284]
A joint poll by World Public Opinion in the US and Levada Center [285Sony PCG-6X4M battery,
Sony PCG-4Q1M battery] 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. Dell Inspiron 14z Battery" Russians generally support the political course of Putin and his team.[286] A 2005 survey showed that three times as many Russians felt the country was "more democratic" Dell Inspiron 1501 Batteryunder Putin than it was during the Yeltsin or Gorbachev years, and the same proportion thought human rights were better under Putin than Yeltsin.[284]
Assessments
Putin was Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2007.[287] In April 2008, Putin was put on the Time 100 most influential people in the world list.[288] Sony PCG-4Q2M battery
Vodka Putinka. Some vodkas in Russia are named after politicians.
On 4 December 2007, at Harvard University, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev credited Putin with having "pulled Russia out of chaos" and said he was "assured a place in history", despite Gorbachev's claim that the news media have been suppressed and that election rules run counter to the democratic ideals he has promoted".Dell Inspiron 1520 Battery [289] In December 2011, amid the protests following the 2011 Russian elections Gorbachev criticized Putin for a decision to seek the third term in the presidential elections and advised Putin to leave politics. Putin's press spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on Gorbachev's expressions as following: Dell Inspiron 1521 BatteryDell Inspiron 17R Battery "A former leader, who was basically responsible for the dissolution of his country, gives advice to the person, who could prevented Russia from a similar destiny".[290]
Criticism of Putin has been spread especially over the Runet.[291] It is said that the Russian youth organisations finance a full "network" of pro-government bloggers.[292] Dell Inspiron 1525 Battery
In the U.S. embassy cables, published by WikiLeaks in late 2010, Putin was called "alpha dog" and compared with Batman (while Dmitry Medvedev was compared with Batman's crime-fighting partner Robin). Dell Inspiron 1526 BatteryAmerican diplomats said Putin's Russia had become "a corrupt, autocratic kleptocracy centred on the leadership of Vladimir Putin, in which officials, oligarchs and organised crime are bound together to create a "virtual mafia state."[293][294] Putin called it "slanderous".[295] Dell Inspiron 1570 BatteryBy western commentators and the Russian opposition, Putin has been described as a dictator.[8][296] Putin biographer Masha Gessen has stated that "Putin is a dictator," comparing him to Alexander Lukashenko.[9][297] Former UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has described Putin as a "ruthless dictator" whose "days are numbered."[10] U.S. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney called Putin "a real threat to the stability and peace of the world."[298] Dell Inspiron 1570n Battery
In the fall of 2011, the anti-Putin opposition movement in Russia became more visible, with street protests against allegedly falsified parliamentary elections (in favor of Putin's party, United Russia) cropping up across major Russian cities. Following Putin's re-election in March 2012, the movement struggled to redefine its new course of action.[299]
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Putin's name and image are widely used in advertisement and product branding.[300] Among the Putin-branded products are Putinka vodka, the PuTin brand of canned food, the Gorbusha Putina caviar and a collection of T-shirts with his image.[301Dell Inspiron 15z BatteryImage
Putin tries to create an outdoor, sporty, tough guy image in the media, demonstrating his physical capabilities and taking part in unusual or dangerous acts, such as extreme sports and interaction with wild animals.[302] For example, in 2007, the tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda published a huge photograph of a bare-chested Putin vacationing in the Siberian mountains under the headline: "Be Like Putin."[303] Dell Inspiron 1720 Battery
Such photo ops are part of a public relations approach that, according to Wired, "deliberately cultivates the macho, take-charge superhero image".[3Dell Inspiron 1721 Battery
00] Some of the activities have been criticised for involving deception or being completely staged. Notable examples of Putin's macho adventures include:[304] Dell Inspiron 1750 Battery]
Vladimir Putin in Tuva, fishing in 2007. Putin often supports a tough guy image in the media.
Flying military jets. Putin flew a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter over Chechnya in 2000 and a Tu-160 supersonic heavy bomber on 16 August 2005 at MAKS Airshow.[304] Dell Latitude E6230 Battery Dell Inspiron N7110 Battery
Martial arts. Putin demonstrated his martial art skills on a tatami at the Kodokan Institute in Tokyo on 5 September 2000 and has subsequently made further demonstrations.[304]
Adventures in the wild. On his trip to Tuva in August 2007, Putin was riding horses, rafting, fishing and swimming in a cold Siberian river (doing all that mostly bare-chested).[303] In August 2009 Putin repeated the experience.[305] Dell Latitude E6320 Battery Descending in a deepwater submersible. On 1 August 2009 Putin descended 1395 m to the bottom of Lake Baikal, the world's deepest lake, on a MIR submersible accompanied by deepwater explorer Anatoly Sagalevich (who had been among the team which had reached the bottom at the North Pole in the Arktika 2007 expedition). From the bottom of Baikal Putin spoke to journalists via hydrophone.[306] Dell Latitude E6420 Battery Dell Inspiron N7010D BatteryDell Inspiron N7010R Battery
Tranquilizing tigers. In 2008 Putin visited the Ussuri national park, where he sedated an Amur tiger with a tranquiliser gun and then helped measure its teeth and fit it with a tracker.[303] Claims were made later that the tiger was actually from the Khabarovsk Zoo and that it died soon after the stunt, but the suspected tiger named by the Khabarovsk Zoo workers[307] was found in late 2009 in Zelenogorsk,[308] while the claims of a stunt were denied by the scientists who organized the "safari".[309] Dell Latitude E6420 ATG Battery
Tranquilizing polar bears. In April 2010 Putin traveled to Franz Josef Land in the Russian Arctic, where he tranquilized a polar bear and attached a satellite tag to him.[310]
Riding a motorbike. In July 2010 Putin appeared at a Bikers festival in Sevastopol riding a Harley-Davidson tricycle; the high council of Russian bikers movements unanimously voted him into a Hells Angel rank with the nickname of Abaddon.[3Dell Latitude E6420M Battery 04][311] Putin's associations with motorcycle gangs led to him being accidentally placed on a blacklist of banned people in Finland.[312]
Firefighting from the air. In August 2010, Russian TV broadcasted video of Putin co-piloting a firefighting plane Beriev Be-200 to dump water on a raging fire during the 2010 Russian wildfires.[300][304] Dell Latitude E6420 XFR Battery
Putin driving a Formula 1 car, 2010 (see the video).
Shooting darts at whales. In late August 2010 Putin shot darts from a crossbow at a gray whale off Kamchatka Peninsula coast as part of an eco-tracking effort, while balancing on a rubber boat in the sea.[304][313] Dell Inspiron M301ZD BatteryDell Inspiron N5110 BatteryDell Inspiron N7010 Battery
Driving a race car. Putin tested a Formula 1 car on 7 November 2010 in Saint Petersburg, reaching a maximum speed of 240 km per hour.[304][314]
Scuba diving. Putin took part in scuba diving at the archaeological site of the ancient Greek colony of Phanagoria in the Taman Bay on 11 August 2011.[31Dell Inspiron M301ZR Battery5] During the dive he "discovered" two amphorae and emerged from the sea exclaiming to television cameras "Treasure!" In October 2011, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told media: "Putin did not find the amphorae on the sea bed that had been lying there for thousands of years [Dell Inspiron M4110 BatteryDell Inspiron N5010R Battery...] They were found during an [archaeological] expedition several weeks or days beforehand. Of course they were then left there [for him to find] or placed there. It is a completely normal thing to do."[316] Dell Inspiron M501 BatteryDell Inspiron N5010D Battery
Leading endangered cranes. Putin attempted to help endangered Siberian cranes begin their migration routes by leading them through the air in a motorized hang glider. Initially, the birds did not follow him. Putin blamed this outcome on strong winds.[317]
Catching big fish. In July 2013 Putin was pictured in Tuva, Siberia, holding up a large pike that he 'caught' and which the Kremlin claimed weighed 21kg, a very large amount for that species. Many media outlets and internet users questioned whether the fish could have weighed that much.[318] Dell Inspiron M5010D BatteryDell Inspiron N4050 BatteryDell Inspiron N4110 BatteryDell Inspiron N5010 Battery Some bloggers also pointed out that Putin's fishing trip wasn't on the official schedule and that he was photographed wearing clothing identical to that worn during a previous trip to the region.[319]
Singing and painting
Putin playing and then singing Blueberry Hill at a charity concert. Dell Inspiron M5010R Battery
On 11 December 2010, at a concert organized for a children's charity in Saint Petersburg, Putin sang Blueberry Hill accompanying himself on the piano. The concert was attended by various Hollywood and European stars such as Kevin Costner, Dell Inspiron M501D BatterySharon Stone, Alain Delon, and Gerard Depardieu.[320][321] At the same event Putin played "С чего начинается Родина?" (From What the Motherland Begins?, a patriotic song from Putin's favourite spy movie "Щит и меч", The Shield and the Sword).[3Dell Inspiron M5110 Battery21] Putin also played or sang that song on a number of other occasions,[322] such as a meeting with the Russian spies deported from the U.S., including Anna Chapman.[323Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Battery] Another melody which Putin is known to play on the piano is the Anthem of Saint Petersburg, his native city.[324]
Putin's painting "Узор на заиндевевшем окне" (A Pattern on a Hoarfrost-Encrusted Window), which he had painted during the Christmas Fair on 26 December 2008, became the top lot at the charity auction in Saint Petersburg and sold for 37 million rubles.[325Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Battery] The picture was made for a series of other paintings by famous Russians. The painters were required to illustrate one of the letters of the Russian alphabet with a subject connected to Nikolay Gogol's novel Christmas Eve Dell Inspiron Mini 10 BatteryDell Inspiron N4010R Battery (the 200th anniversary from Gogol's birth was celebrated in 2008). Putin's picture depicted a hoarfrost pattern (Russian: Узор, illustrating the Cyrillic letter У) on a window with curtains sewn with traditional Ukrainian ornaments.[325Dell Inspiron Mini 1011 Battery] The creation of the painting coincided with the 2009 Russia-Ukraine gas dispute, which left a number of European states without Russian gas and amid January frosts.[237] Dell Inspiron Mini 1012 BatteryDell Inspiron N4010 BatteryDell Inspiron N4010D Battery
In popular culture
A scene from the Superputin comics
A Russian movie called A Kiss not for Press was premiered in 2008 on DVD. The movie is said to be based on biography of Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila.[326] Dobby, a house elf from Harry Potter film series, has been found to look like Putin,[327] and so was also Daniel Craig in his role of James Bond (he was the first blond actor to play James Bond).[328] Dell Inspiron mini 1018 Battery
There are a large number of songs about Putin.[329] Some of the more popular include:
Такого, как Путин – "[I Want] A Man Like Putin" by Singing Together[330]
Гороскоп (Путин, не ссы!) – "Horoscope (Putin, Don't Piss!)" by Uma2rman[331]
ВВП – "VVP" by a Tajik singer Tolibjon Kurbankhanov (Толибджон Курбанханов)[332][333]
Our Madhouse is Voting for Putin by Working Faculty. Dell Inspiron Mini 10v BatteryDell Inspiron N3110 Battery
Putin also is a subject of Russian jokes and chastushki, such as the popular "[Before Putin] There Was No Orgasm" featured in the comedy film The Day of Elections.[334] There is a meta-joke, that since the coming of Putin to power, all the classic jokes about a smart yet rude boy called Вовочка (Vovochka, diminutive from Vladimir) have suddenly become political jokes. Dell Inspiron Mini 12 Battery
Putin features in the colouring book for children Vova and Dima (presented on his 59th birthday),[335] where he and Dmitry Medvedev are drawn as good-behaving little boys, and in the Superputin online comics series, where Putin and Medvedev are portrayed first as superheroes,[300] and then as a troll and an orc in the World of Warcraft.[336] Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Battery
Vladimir Putin was portrayed by internet personality Nice Peter in his Youtube series Epic Rap Battles of History, in Season 2's finale episode, "Rasputin vs. Stalin" (aired on April 22, 2013).[337]
Personal life Dell Inspiron Mini 9N Battery
Family
See also: Lyudmila Putina
Lyudmila Putina in 2007
On 28 July 1983 Putin married Kaliningrad-born Lyudmila Shkrebneva, at that time an undergraduate student of the Spanish branch of the Philology Department of the Leningrad State University and a former Aeroflot flight attendant. Dell Inspiron N301 Battery
They lived together in Germany from 1985 to 1990. During this time, according to BND archives, a German spy befriended Putina, who said that Putin beat her and had love affairs.[338] When the couple left Germany in 1990 it was rumoured that Putin left behind an illegitimate child.[338] Putina is now rarely seen with Putin[339][340Dell Latitude E6330 Battery
] and there have been rumours, according to the Daily Mail and other newspapers, that the couple have separated.[339][340][341] Putin has been linked by newspapers with other women, including gymnast Alina Kabayeva[339Dell Latitude E6430 Battery
][340] and ex-spy Anna Chapman.[341][342] These rumours have been denied.[343][344] Vladimir Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, announced on June 6, 2013 that their marriage is over, ending years of speculation about their relationship. Dell Latitude E6430s Battery Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said no official divorce had been drawn up yet, and he did not know when it would be, but he attached little importance to the formality.[345] Dell Latitude E5220 Battery
Putin and his wife have two daughters, Mariya Putina (born 28 April 1985 in Leningrad, Soviet Union) and Yekaterina Putina (born 31 August 1986 in Dresden, East Germany). The daughters grew up in East Germany[346] and attended the German School in Moscow until his appointment as Prime Minister. Dell Latitude E5420 Battery After that they studied international economics at the Finance Academy in Moscow, although it was not officially reported due to security reasons.[citation needed] According to the Daily Mail, Dell Latitude E5520 Batterytheir photographs have never been published by the Russian media, and no family portrait has ever been issued.[341] According to an article in the newspaper De Pers Mariya is married to the Dutchman Jorrit Faassen.[347][348] Today they live in Voorschoten, Netherlands.[349] Dell Inspiron N3010 Battery
Personal wealth and residences
Figures released during the legislative election of 2007 put Putin's wealth at approximately 3.7 million rubles ($150,000) in bank accounts, a private 77.4-square-meter (833 sq ft) apartment in Saint Petersburg, 260 shares of Bank Saint Petersburg (with a December 2007 market price $5.36 per share[3Dell Inspiron N3010D Battery50]) and two 1960s-era Volga M21 cars that he inherited from his father and does not register for on-road use. In 2012 Putin reported an income of 3.6 million rubles ($113,000). This has led opponents, such as politician Boris Nemtsov, to question how Putin can afford certain possessions, such as his 11 luxury watches worth an estimated $700,000.[351] Dell Inspiron N3010R Battery
An Italianate palace on Russia's southern Black Sea coast allegedly built for Vladimir Putin's personal use.[352]
Putin's purported 2006 income totalled 2 million rubles (approximately $80,000).[353] According to the data Putin did not make it into the 100 wealthiest Duma candidates of his own United Russia party.[354] Dell Inspiron N301Z Battery
Unconfirmed claims by some Russian opposition politicians and journalists allege that Putin secretly possesses a large fortune (as much as $40 billion) via successive ownership of stakes in a number of Russian companies.[355][3Dell Inspiron N301ZD Battery
56] Asked at a press conference on 14 February 2008 whether he was the richest person in Europe, as some newspapers claimed; and if so, to state the source of his wealth, Putin said "This is plain chatter, not worthy discussion, plain bosh. They have picked this in their noses and have smeared this across their pieces of paper. This is how I view this."[357] Dell Studio 1436 Battery
As President and then Prime-Minister, apart from the Moscow Kremlin and the White House, Putin has used numerous official residences throughout the country. In August 2012 Nemtsov listed 20 villas and palaces, 9 of which were built during Putin's 12 years in power. This compares to the President of the United States' 2 official residences.[3Dell Studio 1440 BatteryDell Studio 17 Battery58] Some of the residences include: Gorki-9 near Moscow, Bocharov Ruchey in Sochi, Dolgiye Borody in Novgorod Oblast, Novo-Ogaryovo in Moscow Oblast and Riviera in Sochi (the latter two were left for Putin when he was Prime-Minister in 2008-2012, others were used by Dmitry Medvedev at that period).[359] Dell Studio 1440n Battery Furthermore, a massive Italianate-style mansion costing an alleged USD 1 billion[352] and dubbed "Putin's Palace" is under construction near the Black Sea village of Praskoveevka. The mansion, built on government land and sporting 3 helipads, Dell Studio 1440z Battery a private road paid for from state funds and guarded by officials wearing uniforms of the official Kremlin guard service, is said to have been built for Putin's private use. In 2012 Sergei Kolesnikov, a former business associate of Putin's, told the BBC's Newsnight programme, that he had been ordered by deputy prime minister, Igor Sechin, to oversee the building of it.[360] Dell Studio 1450 Battery
Languages
Apart from Russian, Putin speaks fluent German. His family used to speak German at home as well.[361] After becoming President he was reported to be taking English lessons and could be seen conversing directly with Bush and native speakers of English in informal situations, but he continues to use interpreters for formal talks. Dell Studio 1450n Battery Putin spoke English in public for the first time during the state dinner in Buckingham Palace in 2003 saying but a few phrases while delivering his condolences to Queen Elizabeth II on the death of her mother.[362] He made a full fluent English speech while addressing delegates at the 119th International Olympic Committee Session in Guatemala City on behalf of the successful bid of Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics.[171] Dell Studio 1457 BatteryReligion
Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, attending a commemoration service for the victims of the September 11 attacks in St. Nicholas Cathedral, New York, 16 November 2001.
Putin's father was "a model communist, genuinely believing in its ideals while trying to put them into practice in his own life". Dell Studio 1458 Battery
With this dedication he became secretary of the Party cell in his workshop and then after taking night classes joined the factory's Party bureau.[363] Though his father was a "militant atheist",[364] Putin's mother "was a devoted Orthodox believer".Dell Studio 14z BatteryDell Studio 1558R Battery Though she kept no icons at home, she attended church regularly, despite the government's persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church at that time. She ensured that Putin was secretly christened as a baby and she regularly took him to services. His father knew of this but turned a blind eye.[363] Dell Studio 14zn BatteryDell Studio 15 BatteryDell Studio 1557 Battery
According to Putin's own statements, his religious awakening followed the serious car crash of his wife in 1993, and was deepened by a life-threatening fire that burned down their dacha in August 1996.[364] Right before an official visit to Israel his mother gave him his baptismal cross telling him to get it blessed "I did as she said and then put the cross around my neck. I have never taken it off since."[363Dell Studio 1535 Battery] When asked whether he believes in God during his interview with Time, he responded saying: "...There are things I believe, which should not in my position, at least, be shared with the public at large for everybody's consumption because that would look like self-advertising or a political striptease."[365] Dell Studio 1536 BatteryMartial arts
Vladimir Putin
Putin on a tatami at the Kodokan Institute in Tokyo on 5 September 2000.
Teacher(s) Anatoly Rahlin, Hatsuo Royama
Rank Sambo:
Master of Sports,
Champion of Leningrad
Judo:
6th degree black belt,
Champion of Leningrad
Kyokushin kaikan:
6th dan black belt
Years active 1966–present
Occupation President of Russia
One of Putin's favorite sports is the martial art of judo. Putin began training in sambo (a martial art that originated in the Soviet Union) at the age of 14, before switching to judo, which he continues to practice today.[366] Putin won competitions in his hometown of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), including the senior championships of Leningrad in both sambo and judo. He is the President of the Yawara Dojo, Dell Studio 1537 Battery
the same Saint Petersburg dojo he practiced at when young. Putin co-authored a book on his favorite sport, published in Russian as Judo with Vladimir Putin and in English under the title Judo: History, Theory, Practice (2004).[367] Dell Studio 1555 Battery
Though he is not the first world leader to practice judo, Putin is the first leader to move forward into the advanced levels. Currently, Putin holds a 6th dan (red/white belt)[36Dell XPS M1530 Battery8] and is best known for his Harai Goshi (sweeping hip throw). Putin earned Master of Sports (Soviet and Russian sport title) in judo in 1975 and in sambo in 1973. At a state visit to Japan, Putin was invited to the Kodokan Institute, the judo headquarters, where he showed different judo techniques to the students and Japanese officials. Dell XPS M1730 BatteryDell XPS M2010 Battery
Putin also holds a 6th dan black belt in Kyokushin kaikan karate. He was presented the black belt in December 2009 by Japanese champion Kyokushin Karate-Do master Hatsuo Royama.[369]
In 2013, Putin re-introduced the GTO physical fitness program to Russia[370] with the support of