The Chameleon in the Kremlin: Contemporary Russia under Putin
Overview
New Millennium, New President: the Rise of Vladimir Putin, 1999-2004
In the 1990s, economic collapses and defeatist attitudes plagued Russia. Many Russian banks had collapsed due to mismanagement, as well as the rapid transfer of communist to capitalist economic systems. Russia no longer stood as a strong leader in world affairs. Instead, Russian wealth was held in the hands of a few oligarchs, while most of the country suffered from plummeting standards of living. Russia’s president, Boris Yeltsin, had been democratically elected after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. But by the late 1990s, Yeltsin was in his upper 60s and ill. He increasingly relied on aides to help him with speeches, public appearances, and decision-making. In August 1999, Yeltsin appointed his Chief of the Russian Security Council as his prime minister. The maneuver surprised many within and outside Russia. At forty-six years old, Vladimir Putin was relatively young, and largely unknown to both Russians and foreigners. Four months later, Boris Yeltsin resigned as president of Russia and named Putin his successor. The following spring, Putin transformed from an obscure security agent to the leader of the largest nation on earth when he was elected the second president of Russia.
Learning Objectives
- Analyze Vladimir Putin’s presidency in Russia.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Alexei Navalny: opposition leader to Vladimir Putin
Chechnya: republic in southern Russia that has long-sought complete independence
Dmitry Medvedev: president of Russia (2008 – 2012)
Georgia: small, independent nation in the Caucasus region of Europe
oligarchs: Russian billionaire businessmen who gained extreme wealth and political influence during the late 1980s and 1990s
Vladimir Putin: president of Russia (2000 – 2008; 2012 – Present)
Putin's Early Career
“Any cook should be able to run the country.” So said Vladimir Lenin about the egalitarian nature of the communist Soviet Union. In the Soviet Union, workers were the backbone of communism: in ideology and daily life. Therefore, any cook, any bricklayer, any shoemaker would represent the interests of and understand the people so well that they could theoretically govern the world’s largest communist state. Little did Vladmir Lenin know that his personal cook, Spiridon Putin, would one day have a grandson, named Vladimir, who would govern Russia.
Background
Vladimir Putin was born on October 7, 1952, in Saint Petersburg (then called Leningrad). In his autobiography, Putin outlined growing up in a modest, communal apartment with his working-class parents. He described himself, initially, as a poor student who was heavily interested in sports. Despite Soviet policies of the day that curbed religion, Putin also recalled that his mother had secretly baptized him as an Orthodox Christian.
By his teenage years, Putin had transformed into a serious and inquisitive young man interested in Soviet politics. He excelled in the law program at Leningrad State University, and upon graduation, accepted a position as a security officer for the Russian foreign security agency: the KGB. Putin worked as a KGB agent for fifteen years. After retiring from the KGB, Putin returned to Saint Petersburg where he excelled in local politics.
In the early 1990s, Putin moved to Moscow with his (then) wife and two young daughters to pursue his political career. Seemingly out of nowhere, quiet and private Vladimir Putin climbed the political ranks, serving as an advisor to Russia’s prime minister at the time: Anatoly Chubais. By 1998, Putin had developed such close connections to Boris Yeltsin’s inner circle, that Yeltsin named him director of the FSB—Russia’s intelligence agency and successor agency to the KGB. Within a year, Putin had again climbed the ranks and was appointed Secretary of the Security Council of Russia. In that capacity, Putin would regularly meet with President Yeltsin, and the heads of Russian defense. Then, in a surprising maneuver, Putin was named prime minister of Russia by Boris Yeltsin. Although Putin was unknown and enigmatic to most of Russia when he stepped into his new role, he would soon make his name known across the country.
1999:The Critical Year for Vladimir Putin
In the fall of 1999, two key events occurred in Russia that launched Putin into the forefront of Russian attention. The first event occurred in August, just after Putin assumed his position as prime minister of Russia. An Islamist militant group invaded Dagestan—a Russian province in the southern Caucasus that is a mountainous region bordering the Caspian Sea. News stories in Russia proclaimed that the invading force committed atrocities against Russian soldiers. At home, Russians feared their country was weak and that it might be carved up as the former Soviet Union had been.
A month later, a series of apartment bombings swept through three cities in Russia, including Moscow. Over 300 Russians were killed, with over 1,000 more injured. No perpetrators were concretely identified, and ever since the events, there has been much speculation about who carried out the bombings. Some analysts even speculate that the bombings were a false-flag operation. They suggest that the Russian FSB had planted the bombs with the intent of placing blame elsewhere and generating support for Yeltsin’s failing presidency.
But despite these rumors and stories, most Russian eyes turned to a longstanding adversary: militants from Chechnya—a small republic in the Caucasus region of southern Russia, and a neighbor to Dagestan. It was the narrative the Russian government and media wanted Russians to buy. And to the average Russian, the story made sense. Russia had just fought a war against Chechnya under Yeltsin and left many people on both sides discontented. For although Chechnya operated independently, it remained a part of Russia. Chechens desperately sought complete independence. Russians, in contrast, sought more control over what they saw as a violent and unstable area. The competing ideas set Chechnya and Russia on a collision course with one another.
Putin understood that Russians felt defeated in 1999. The bombings confirmed Russian fears that the world viewed their country as a place of instability and mass violence. Every stereotype and fear Russians sought to avoid rained down on them in 1999. The people desperately needed a hero. One who would give them hope for a brighter future, restore the glory of Russia, and crush their enemies. In the wake of apartment bombings, Putin stepped into the front of news cameras and overtly blamed the Chechens for the apartment bombings across Russia. Chechnya, he assured them, would pay for its crimes. He assured them that Russia would punish Chechnya and the forces that invaded Dagestan, that Russia would avenge the deaths of their soldiers, and that the country would persevere and reign triumphant. Confident, tough, but calm under pressure, Putin was exactly the leader Russians sought in their hour of crisis.
Following the apartment bombings, Russia launched airstrikes on Chechnya, and then a land invasion of the northern half of Chechnya. Thousands of Chechens were killed, with thousands more displaced in the war that ensued. In December 1999, Yeltsin named Vladimir Putin the “acting president” of Russia as he resigned from the office.
Facing an election that spring, Putin knew he had to demonstrate his strength as a leader. Under his order, the Russian military launched a massive campaign to capture the Chechen capital, Grozny. In February 2000, they succeeded. Although the war against Chechnya would continue for nearly a decade, Putin’s popularity exploded across Russia. Across the country, Russians turned out to vote for the next president. Unsurprisingly, and overwhelmingly, Putin was elected as president of Russia in March 2000.
President Putin's First Term
President Putin entered the Kremlin in March 2000 with resounding popular support because of his strong stance against Chechnya. But his popularity suffered in August because of a military disaster. The Russian nuclear submarine, the Kursk, embarked on a military training exercise with the Russian naval fleet in the Barents Sea off Russia’s northwest coast in the Arctic Circle. Despite its reputation as an invincible submarine, two massive explosions rocketed through the Kursk during the exercise. The explosions sunk the Kursk. Reportedly, nearly 100 of the crew were killed in the initial explosions and subsequent fires that spread throughout the submarine. But a handful of the crew made it to one of the submarine’s compartments that had survived the blasts. There, they waited for help to arrive, and undoubtedly expected it would come. The submarine had been part of a large convoy sent to perform a military exercise. Surely, the naval fleet would notice it was missing. Moreover, the Kursk had sunk in relatively shallow, if icy, water not far from Russia’s port of Murmansk. But no help came. Delays in communication extended from the military to President Putin, who was vacationing at the time. When news reached Putin, he was slow to report it to the media, and delayed help from Western navies, despite the fact Russian military reports claimed that they heard clanging sounds coming from survivors aboard the Kursk. After a week, Putin allowed Western navies to mount a rescue attempt. But it was too late. All 118 sailors had perished when the British rescue team arrived.
Anger toward the new president swept through Russia. Families demanded explanations and called for Putin’s dismissal. Fears that old Soviet practices of secrecy and cover-ups returned. Moreover, the disaster and Putin’s stagnation seemed to signal that Russia was still decades behind the West in its development. The event humiliated Putin and his popularity plummeted. In response to what he deemed excessive and inaccurate media coverage of the event, Putin clamped down on the media, and regulated coverage of the Kursk disaster. He later visited the families of the sailors who had perished and provided them with financial compensation. Since 2000, memorials have been created in honor of the men who perished aboard the Kursk.
Russsia Engages the World: Putin and Foreign Affairs
Vladimir Putin weathered the shock his presidency received after the Kursk disaster. In part, he survived and rebounded because of his determination to make Russia strong in the eyes of the world. In particular, he concentrated on projecting Russian strength when dealing with foreign heads of state. In the early 2000s, President Putin emphasized the need for a “multipolar” world. By this, he meant a world in which there was more than one clear center of power and influence. One beyond Western Europe and the United States. He sought to connect with the West, while also remaining committed to the idea that Russia would again be a strong world power. Simultaneously, he believed that China and other regions in Asia should be strong world actors on equal footing with the West. And he was determined to develop Russia’s connection with the East, as well as the West.
Putin was initially keen to work with Western nations, including the United States. He even proposed to President Bill Clinton the idea of Russia joining NATO, by presenting a new Russia free from Soviet-era policies. Naturally, the conversation went no further.
Putin also kindled a relationship with President George W. Bush. One in which the younger Bush famously quipped that he had “gotten a sense of Putin’s soul.” To Americans, it signaled hope that despite their long, adversarial relationship, Russia and the United States might be entering a new era of friendship and cooperation. Hope was further kindled when, on September 11, 2001, Putin was the first head of state to contact President George W. Bush and offer his support. He pledged Russian assistance in helping the United States and the West track down and eliminate terrorists. However, he stopped short of actually aiding the U.S. and vehemently opposed the United States’ war in Iraq.
Putin’s policies toward foreign countries in the first two terms of his presidency projected more than anything, the idea that Russia was a nation willing to work with others, regardless of political divides. However, he was always careful to emphasize that the new Russia, his Russia, was strong and would operate on its own terms. He would not be in the pocket of the West, as his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, was. Nor would he allow foreign governments to intimidate him or threaten Russia in any way.
In 2005, he famously described the collapse of the Soviet Union as the “greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th Century.” While that quote has often been used to assess actions later undertaken by him, it is equally important to showcase his message at the time. For Putin, who had grown up in the communist Soviet Union, he saw the collapse of the state as a major blow to Russian strength and international prestige. He also saw it as artificially bolstering the importance of the West over all other regions of the world. At the time of his speech, Putin wanted to alter both of those outcomes by building up Russian military strength and re-establishing Russia as a major global actor in a multipolar world.
For the Good of Russia?: Putin's Domestic Policies
The Russia that Putin inherited from President Yeltsin in 2000 was not one that anyone would particularly relish. Spanning eleven time zones, Russia was enormous. Much of its population was impoverished, unemployed, and frustrated. Russia writhed with violence, drugs, and crime, particularly in Moscow.
The life expectancy for Russian men in the 1990s was remarkably short for an industrialized nation. In 1999, the National Institute for Health reported that the life expectancy for Russian men was 58 years. The political and economic instability of the 1990s had prompted surging alcoholism rates in Russia, primarily among men. As a result, alcohol-related deaths also surged.
Along with the social ills of a massive, unstable country came an explosion in all types of crime. Organized crime, violent crime, and petty crime all exploded throughout Russia during the politically chaotic 1990s and into the early 2000s.
Politically, Russia also was rife with corruption at every level. Indeed, when Putin stepped into the role as president of Russia, his work was cut out for him. And it was far from attractive. The question on everyone’s mind was simple: would Putin hold out a hand for the common, impoverished, working Russian; or, would he align with the wealthy, corrupt oligarchs whose shady business endeavors resulted in their unprecedented wealth? Ever enigmatic, few people could guess Putin’s next move, and many underestimated the political skill of their new president.
Putin Tackles the Russian Economy
First on Putin’s agenda of domestic affairs was stabilizing and improving the Russian economy. The task was as enormous as the country itself. From 1917 – 1991, Russia had been a communist society in which trade and industry were strictly controlled by the government. Wealth was distributed by the government to individuals and families based on need and ability. Then, almost overnight, a dramatic shift in economic policies occurred. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 came the collapse of Russian communism. In its place, a capitalist economic system was installed. The lightspeed transition produced shockwaves across Russia. Capitalism stood in direct opposition to communism. Instead of strict government regulation, capitalism favored the individual, private property, private wealth, and fierce economic competition. The transition left many ordinary Russians confused, and wondering how, and from where, they would earn enough money to support themselves.
The economic crisis deepened during the rise of a group of Russian oligarchs. Hyper-wealthy, fiercely intelligent and ruthless businessmen, these individuals had obtained their wealth during the mid-1980s and early 1990s under the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, who allowed limited privatization of the Russian economy. These businessmen often lived abroad and brought Western products to Russia to be sold on the black market for astronomical prices. The same group of men also created vast oil and natural gas companies. As their wealth soared, so too did their political influence.
Many scholars claim that the oligarchs were the actual government in the 1990s, and Boris Yeltsin a simple figurehead president. In any case, one thing about the Russian economy in the 1990s was true: it floundered. Power and vast wealth remained in the hands of a very few, shady Russian businessmen, most of whom lived abroad and had foreign bank accounts. For the remaining 99% of Russians, life proved exceptionally difficult.
Putin Brings "Improvement" to the Russian Economy
Vladimir Putin had to improve Russia’s economy to remain in power. One of his first acts of business was to nationalize much of Russia’s energy sector. This maneuver allowed for the growth of Russian industries for the first time in over a decade. It created jobs and dramatically reduced unemployment in Russia. Global demand and prices for Russian oil and natural gas skyrocketed, in part due to the West’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Moreover, Putin was firm in his deals with the West. If Western nations wanted Russian gas and oil, they must pay Russia fairly. Much of the West complied, and to-date, Russia continues to supply most of Europe with natural gas and oil.
By 2004, Russia’s economy thrived due to Putin’s regulation of the energy sector, and a massive tax reform he undertook. Unemployment dropped, and the standards of living rose sharply. With these social gains, Russian people began investing in the economy, and consumerism boomed. The middle class expanded, and wealth slowly began to be more evenly distributed. It appeared that after a relatively short time of trials, capitalism seemed destined to triumph in Russia. In 2004, Vladimir Putin also seemed destined to triumph in Russia, as he won re-election and began his second term as president.
Restoration of a Dictator? Putin and the Oligarchs
Much of Putin’s popularity can be boiled down to two things: strengthening Russian prestige abroad and strengthening the Russian economy at home. But his relationship with the oligarchs was complicated from the earliest days of his presidency. Behind the scenes, they facilitated his political rise and win of the presidency. But they were enormously unpopular with the Russian people. To remain popular, Putin needed to be seen challenging them. A closed-doors deal was struck between him and the billionaire businessmen. He would allow them to keep their personal wealth, assets, and companies in exchange for complete loyalty and nonintervention in government affairs. The agreement seemed, initially, to work. The oligarchs retained their wealth and pledged loyalty, and often millions of international dollars to Putin. It was corruption on a grand scale. Putin warned that any oligarch who broke away from him would be severely disciplined. Very likely, his threat seemed laughable to the oligarchs at the time who were accustomed to dealing with the malleable Yeltsin. They, like so many others, underestimated the strength and skill of their new president.
Famously, Russia’s wealthiest oligarch, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, broke with Putin. Underestimating Putin as a politician and former KGB agent, Khodorkovsky was arrested at gunpoint on charges of fraud and tax evasion. He was later tried and sentenced to ten-years in prison. After eight years, and much political campaigning on his behalf, Khodorkovsky was released and allowed to live in exile in the United States. He would not be the last of the oligarchs to pay a price for breaking with Vladimir Putin.
Putin's Second Term (2004-2008)
From the onset of his presidency, Vladimir Putin was intensely secretive about much of his private life. His daughters were all but unknown to the world, having been only very rarely photographed. He would provide evasive answers to reporters about the sources of his wealth or how much wealth he had. Increasingly in his second term, Westerners and Russians alike pointed to his service as a KGB agent as formative experience. He would conceal much about himself, while simultaneously, (and often subtly) getting others to reveal information. He could transform himself to become who he thought his audience needed him to be. Like a chameleon, he could disguise and alter his persona to suit the situation at hand. While this might have worked well for Putin personally, it sparked unease among Russians and foreigners alike. Although Putin had enjoyed an overwhelming re-election in 2004, his second term would usher forth new fears at home that he was increasingly becoming an authoritarian leader.
Mr. Putin's Wars
During his time as a KGB agent, and as a young politician in Saint Petersburg, Putin witnessed the dissolution of both the Soviet Union, and the former communist state Yugoslavia. It is likely that these events impacted him deeply. From the beginning of his presidency, restoration of Russia as strong world leader has proved one of his primary goals. On the opposite side of the coin, the carving up of Russia in a manner like Yugoslavia is likely one of his great fears. Therefore, he has historically reacted harshly to any perceived threat to Russia’s progression as a world leader, be it an internal or external threat.
The Beslan Hostage Crisis
On September 1, 2004, a group of Islamist militants from the Caucasus region of North Ossetia, a neighbor of Chechnya, entered a school in the town of Beslan in southern Russia. They quickly took over 1,100 hostages, including teachers, students, and parents who had accompanied their children to school for a day of planned festivities. They drove the hostages into the school gym, and proceeded to rig explosives to the basketball goals, and throughout the gym. Outside the school, Russian forces mounted by the thousands, and a siege began. For three days, the captors held their hostages, shooting some of male teachers, and refusing food and drink to anyone. During the crisis, the militants demanded Russia recognize complete independence of Chechnya—a request Putin would never grant. On the third day of the siege, Russian forces were able to overwhelm the terrorists. With the help of tanks, Russian forces stormed the school. Their action defeated the terrorists, but not without heavy loss of life. At the end of the siege, more than 300 hostages had perished, most of them children.
The Beslan hostage crisis provided Putin with the context he needed to further crack down on internal dissent. His response was swift and sharp. Direct election of municipal officials was removed throughout Russia. Instead, officials would be appointed directly by the Kremlin. Increasingly, Russian media reported on Putin’s crackdowns and asserted that his power stretched too far. In response, Putin launched a new crackdown that targeted the media, which, he believed, spread lies and misinformation about the government.
Putin's Crackdowns: The Media and Political Opponents
Following the Kursk incident in 2000, Putin launched a campaign to severely restrict all independent media outlets in Russia. The campaign was undertaken in the name of ending “misinformation” spread by these news agencies. In Putin’s view, most news reports that diverged from official, state-sponsored media outlets, constituted misinformation. Media crackdowns persisted and intensified following every major crisis experienced within Russia. In some cases, Putin ordered the arrest and imprisonment of owners of media outlets, including Russian oligarch, Vladimir Gusinsky. One by one, independent news agencies were shut down or brought under the direct control of the Russian government.
For journalists who remained committed to investigating Putin and the Kremlin, their fates were frequently worse than imprisonment. Among the most famous journalists to be silenced in Russia was a woman who investigated Putin and his policies extensively, Anna Politkovskaya. Since Putin’s first invasion of Chechnya in 1999, she had reported on human rights abuses committed by Russians against the Chechens. In 2004, she published her book, Putin’s Russia, and laid bare the corruption and oppression within Putin’s presidency. Two years later, she was discovered murdered in the elevator to her apartment. Ironically, her murder occurred on October 7, 2006—Putin’s 54th birthday.
Less than two months after Politkovskaya’s death, another high-profile death rocked Russia. This time, the death occurred in London. A middle-aged, former Russian security officer, Alexander Litvinenko, had died under mysterious circumstances in a London hospital. Investigations into his death by the British revealed that he was a vocal critic of Putin and that he had also leaked information from his days as a FSB security officer. Moreover, on the day he fell violently ill, Litvinenko had met with two men, proven to be Russian security agents, in a London hotel. A postmortem investigation revealed that Litvinenko had been poisoned with a radioactive element: polonium-210. One probable theory argues that the Russian agents slipped the element into Litvinenko’s tea, as traces of the substance were found in a tea pot where they had met. High levels of polonium-210 were also discovered in the hotel bar. Further investigation proved that the two Russian agents were indeed responsible for Litvinenko’s death but investigators could not link the murder directly to Putin. It would not be the last death nor high-profile poisoning conducted by Russian agents.
Putin's Changing Attitude toward the West
In Putin’s second term, the Russian President began to shift his tone in working with the West. He had felt for years that the West treated Russia as second class, as well as backward. These attitudes, he believed, resulted in little genuine effort from the United States or Western Europe to work with Russia. Their lack of respect and aid deeply weighed on Putin. Over the years, he increasingly distanced himself from the Western nations.
As early as 2003, Putin was enormously critical of the United States’ invasion of Iraq. He spoke of flaws of Western dominance in global affairs. In 2007, Putin delivered a speech in Munich in which he sharply criticized the United States use of what he called excessive military force to enforce diplomacy with other countries, specifically those in the developing world.
Similarly, icy tensions emerged between Putin and the United Kingdom. The British frequently gave asylum to political exiles from Russia, notably some of the country’s oligarchs. This policy irritated Putin. Simultaneously, the British became frustrated and concerned with Putin because of events such as the Litvinenko poisoning that had occurred within British borders.
Putin and NATO
Most irritating to Putin was the expansion of NATO. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization had been formed in 1949, four years into the Cold War between Russia and the West. It was created as a peacetime, military alliance between Western nations. Among other things, it promised that if any NATO country were attacked, the other NATO nations would consider it as an attack upon themselves and provide military aid. Practically, NATO was an alliance designed to protect Western nations from attacks by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was a very visible sign of solidarity and strength among Western Europe and the United States. The Soviet Union had responded by the creation of their equivalent: the Warsaw Pact. But after the Cold War, the Soviet Union had collapsed. Communism was defeated in Europe, and the Warsaw Pact was dissolved. Russia hoped that the West would respond by a similar dismantling of NATO. Instead, NATO membership soared in the 1990s and 2000s.
Since 1999, many former Soviet Bloc countries, such as Poland and Romania, have joined NATO. The Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, all of which share a border with Russia, joined NATO. These Eastern European nations joined NATO for two reasons: memory of life under the communist Soviet Union and security against encroachment/attacks from what they perceived as growing Russian aggression in Europe during the 2000s.
From Putin’s perspective, the rapid expansion of NATO, a Cold War-era entity, was a further sign that Europe was distancing itself from Russia. Why, he argued, would a Cold War-era alliance be expanding after the end of the Cold War? From whom, did they expect an attack? And why was Western Europe so quick to accept former Soviet countries into NATO membership? The spark that further ignited Putin’s fury was that NATO built military bases in Eastern European countries, namely Poland. For Putin, that was practically in Russia’s backdoor. The building of such bases, he argued, threatened the security of Russia and amplified tensions between Russia and the West to Cold War levels.
Exit, Mr. Putin?
The Russian constitution limited the president to two consecutive terms of four years each. In 2008, Putin’s time in office was nearly over. He could not run a third term, or extend his presidency, without risking strong opposition from the Russian people. So, Putin set out to find a suitable protégé. He found one in his long-time ally, former chief of staff, and deputy prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev. More than a decade younger than Putin, Medvedev was comparatively young. He spoke with a professional courteousness that Putin lacked. Unlike Putin, he delivered speeches that resonated with Russian intellectuals, which pulled in support from that demographic. His boyish face was warm and ingratiating—a stark contrast to austere, glacial Putin. And unlike Putin, Medvedev was inexperienced and malleable.
The only problem arose from a small, but vocal minority of Russian people. In 2008, the popular chess master, Garry Kasparov, entered his candidacy for the presidency against Putin’s man, Medvedev. He ran on the campaign that Putin and his inner circle were extremely corrupt. Among other charges, he implied that Putin was an autocratic president that was severely restricting freedoms in Russia. For a small percentage of Russians, Kasparov’s claims struck home. Even Putin-supporters could not deny that he had worked to severely restrict and regulate the media in Russia. Moreover, Russians had concerns about voter fraud and the legitimacy of Russian elections. During his campaign, Kasparov gained a strong following. But his campaign was often halted by his periodic arrests for demonstrating against Putin. Late in 2007, Kasparov withdrew from the race, frustrated by the endless roadblocks he faced in campaigning against Putin’s government. Although he failed to successfully run for the presidency, he had succeeded in raising awareness of Putin’s increasing corruption and authoritarianism in two critical ways: firstly, larger numbers of Russians were questioning Putin and his policies; and secondly, Kasparov’s failed campaign pointed to the severe authoritarianism in the state. At the time, Kasparov was handsome, wealthy, and internationally famous. If the Russian government could create such hurdles to stop his campaign, Kasparov’s point was spot-on. Russia was far from free.
According to voter records, Putin left the presidency in 2008 with overwhelming popular support. It was therefore unsurprising that his hand-picked successor also experienced strong support during his election campaign and ultimately won the presidential election. In 2008, Russia and the World welcomed the new president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev. But within hours of his oath-taking, Medvedev named Putin his prime minister. The act resulted in many asking, “Who is the real Russian president?”
The Cozy President and the Glacial Prime Minister: Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin (2008-2012)
From the moment Dmitry Medvedev stepped into the presidency it became impossible to separate him from Vladimir Putin. At home and abroad, people described Medvedev’s presidency as a “tandem” presidency in which decision-making was shared between the two men. Speculation arose that Medvedev had never had presidential aspirations, that he simply bent to Putin’s plan.
The Russo-Georgian War
Regardless of how he had come to power, Medvedev faced his first crisis only months after coming to power. Just south of the Russian Caucasus was the small, independent country of Georgia. In August 2008, there were longstanding tensions between Georgia and Russia over small provinces in the Caucasus, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia. Violence erupted between South Ossetian troops and Georgian troops. Russian troops soon joined the conflict on the side of South Ossetia and launched an attack on Georgia. Within five days, the war was over. Georgia had been beaten into submission by Russian forces that had illegally invaded their country, and the Caucasus provinces remained firmly in Russian hands. Despite the briefness of the war, it resulted in mass displacement for Georgian civilians. Moreover, the lack of international response to Russia’s illegal invasion emboldened Russia. Medvedev was at the helm, with Putin pulling his strings. And prime minister Putin would not forget the lack of Western response to their invasion of Georgia.
The Global Financial Crisis and Medvedev's Foreign Diplomacy
Medvedev’s second challenge arrived in 2008 during the global economic recession. Russian GDP dropped sharply. For Russia, the recession proved a preview of the dangers of a mono-industry nation. Russia relied heavily on its gas and oil exports to drive its economy. But if those industries collapsed, Russia would suffer enormously. For his part, Medvedev spoke of diversifying the Russian economy. He advocated for development in the sectors of information and medical technology. But in his four years as president, little was done to promote a diversified economy. Russia weathered the 2008 economic crisis but it was not until two years later that the economy began to recover and grow.
In many ways, Medvedev mimicked Putin. Some noted that even in his speaking, Medvedev’s intonation was like Putin’s. In policy, Medvedev was like Putin, also. During his presidency, he increasingly turned away from the West and toward the East. In 2009, his Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, famously received a “present” from United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton—a box with a bright red button. Inaccurately written in Russian, the button was supposed to say “Reset.” Lavrov quickly pointed out that the Americans had used an inaccurate Russian word, and that it said “overcharge.” But despite the brief humiliation, the intention was clear to both parties. The United States recognized that the two countries were at odds. A “resetting” of relations needed to occur.
It was clear, at that time, that Russia was turning eastward instead of to the West. And President Medvedev developed working relationships with some of the world’s most notorious heads of state, including Kim Jong Il of North Korea, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and Fidel Castro.
The Forgotten President?
President Medvedev announced in 2012 that he would not run for re-election. Instead, he threw his support to his prime minister. Vladimir Putin, he proclaimed, would be an excellent choice of candidates for president. No one in Russia or abroad seemed surprised by the announcement. But in Russia, thousands protested what they deemed an increasingly corrupt government. Among those leading protests was a thirty-five-year-old lawyer and YouTube blogger, Alexei Navalny. Very successfully, he labeled Putin’s political party, United Russia, the party of “crooks and thieves.” He used the internet to broadcast evidence of Putin’s “stolen” wealth—vast palaces and yachts. He also advocated for a free and democratic Russia, something unknown in Putin’s Russia. Through his media platforms, Navalny garnered millions of supporters. For the first time since 1999, Putin had a strong political opponent. It was a momentous start for Navalny. Within two years, he would lead the Russian opposition against Vladimir Putin, as well as become an international household name.
In 2012, Medvedev exited the presidency and became Vladimir Putin’s prime minister. While it is still debated to what extent Medvedev’s presidency was really his own, overwhelming opinion speculates that Putin was heavily involved all along. As Medvedev left the presidency, so too did public memory of him. Within five years of his exiting the presidency, Medvedev was largely forgotten by most of the world.
Return of President Putin: 2013-Present
Vladimir Putin returned to the president’s office in May 2012. Mass protests occurred during his installation as president. Protestors decried the election and claimed rampant voter fraud took place. In response to the protestors, Russian police arrested thousands. The arrests resulted in dozens of international organizations declaring that human rights were being violated en masse in Russia. Over the next decade, organizations and countries around the world would cry that Russia erased basic human freedoms. Indeed, during his third and fourth terms, Putin would increasingly implement measures to crack down on dissension in his autocratic Russia. Ever at the forefront of his thoughts was a great coin. On one side was the goal of promoting Russia as a major power in global affairs, on equal standing with the West. On the flip side of the coin was the fear that Russia would retreat from the world stage, and/or be dismantled as the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia had been. Together, these thoughts created a strong, unyielding Russian nationalist in Putin. A characteristic that would set him on a collision course with Western powers in 2014, and again in 2022 when he launched invasions of Ukraine.
Attributions
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Gessen, Masha. The Man without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin. Penguin Books, New York: 2014.
Lourie, Richard. Putin: His Downfall and Russia’s Coming Crash. Thomas Dunne Books, New York: 2017.